


Out of My Hands

by LoganSW96



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Also Hartley is kind of rude as hell, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And crude, And makes inappropriate jokes to embarass Barry, Developing Relationship, Does anyone but me actually ship this, I live for these nerds, M/M, Pied Piper - Freeform, The Flash - Freeform, he's just great okay, oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:40:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 38,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3637068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoganSW96/pseuds/LoganSW96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Pied Piper and The Flash were never meant to be anything more than adversaries...right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't written in a while and my only other stories on here are about Homestuck (which I'm not that big on anymore tbh), and also I'm like 2000% sure that there's only ten other people on earth that ship this ship but I'm gonna sail it into the sunset. I'm hoping to have quite a few chapters of this, so I hope you enjoy! (PS, Bartley feels won't be happening for quite a few chapters, it's very much a developing thing).

I hated Starling City.

It’s dark, it’s cold, it rains more than it doesn’t, and to be frank it just wasn't Central City. Central may not be what it once was, but it was still my home. Home was a bit of a distant concept nowadays.

After my parents kicked me out, I had to get a tiny apartment paid for by my salary from Star Labs. Then I was fired, but that didn’t matter for long because when the accelerator blew, it got even worse. Any money I had left was spent on hospital bills to try to fix my hearing, but I knew soon that it wasn’t damaged but enhanced. Then I spent most of my days squatting in crappy little places until I was able to build his sonic gloves, immediately after which I went for Wells.

This brought me back to my original point of hating Starling City and, more specifically, The Flash. I was grateful that Cisco was gullible enough to give me my chance to escape, not that I was doing much better. I had to get out of Central as fast as possible, and the only available bus was headed straight to Starling City.

Staying in the Glades was less than favorable, but it was all I could do. Mostly I squatted in an abandoned house, using whatever money I had left to get food while scavenging for parts to repair my gloves. I’d been working for months, but finally they were operational again. Now I could stop living like a hermit.

Robbing an armored car felt like such a cliché. Petty crime was beneath me; hell, under normal circumstances I wouldn’t commit crime at all (dealing with Wells earned an exception). But this was out of necessity, and the only way I was going to get the funds to survive and, eventually, challenge The Flash. So for now, armored car it is.

I managed to hack through a smaller bank’s security system to track the armored car’s route in a public library (it’s a miracle I didn’t get caught), so now I was stuck waiting for the car to show up. I checked over my gloves once, twice, three times. They were held together by hot glue, duct tape and prayers (more or less), and they looked awful, but it was all I could do.

It was raining again, and my ass hurt from sitting on a street corner for so long. I wish I had a watch, or a phone, or something to tell the time. I knew I was early, but this felt like forever. When the truck finally rounded the corner, I was practically bouncing to get this over with.

I didn’t waste any time being dramatic. One blast from my gloves blew out the windshield, a second knocked the guards unconscious. I swelled with pride; I wasn’t sure if the gloves would be as powerful as before. They weren’t, but they're still better than I expected. I sprinted around and blasted off the back doors of the large vehicle.

Motorcycle engines roared behind me and I cringed; resistance? I turned around to face them, and there were two motorcycles. One had a man driving with a woman on the back, and the second had a man holding a bow. He was steadying the bike with his legs and readying to fire, which I noticed just in time to jump to my right. The arrow pinged off the truck and rolled near my feet, a green light flashing. I noticed it only a second too late.

The explosion was small but the sound was massive. My vision blurred and my head split in two, but my hearing aids managed to absorb most of it. I steadied myself and the bikes were much closer now. Both of the men had bows and the girl looked to have some sort of a nightstick? Odd choice of weapon.

“So you’re the vigilantes I’ve been hearing so much about,” I teased, and they hesitated for a moment as I shook out my wrists. “Gotta say, after dealing with the Flash, you’re pretty underwhelming.”

“You know the Flash?” the green one yelled.

“Know him? I nearly killed him,” I yelled back. “You lot don’t compare!”

I blasted my gloves at them, and the three were thrown back (the men thrown to their bikes and the girl behind them.

They steadied themselves and charged, the archers launching their arrows. They weren’t going for kill shots, I realized, so dodging them was surprisingly easy. The girl charged and I knocked her back again, this time jacking up the intensity. She screamed when she hit, clutching her hands over her ears. I eased off because the others were getting more persistent and hand-to-hand combat was not my forte.

“Let’s all simmer down just a bit, why don’t we?” I chided. The green one flew back from one blast, rolling on the ground with his bow tossed aside. The red side-stepped me and I jumped back just before his kick could hit me.

I mostly did a lot of dodging; the guy was fast, limber, and strong. I pressed my hand on his ribs and blasted again, which knocked him considerably back. Then the green one came at me again, and I readied to fire.

Sparks flew off my right glove and it shorted out, useless. I cringed; I wasn’t anticipating this heavy of use, and I pushed them too far. The left one must not have much time, I realized, so I rolled away from the green one that charged me. I blasted him, which only staggered him before the other glove shorted out.

“Son of a bitch,” I sighed. The masked man approached slowly, confidently. Chills ran down my spine as the other two came up as well, cornering me. I had nowhere to go, not that I could outrun them anyway.

“Looks like you’ve caught me,” I sighed, putting my hands up.

“It’ll be Iron Heights for you,” sneered the red one.

My blood froze; Iron Heights? I wouldn’t make it a month in a place like that. I had to play my cards right. “Sure, by all means,” I bluffed. “See how long that holds me.”

“Wait, didn’t he say he knows the Flash?” the girl offered.

“Shit, he’s a meta-human,” replied the red one.

“Which means Iron Heights isn’t a viable option,” the girl concluded, and the others nodded in unison.

“So, now the question is what you’ll do with me?” I sneered. I hope they couldn’t see me sweating; it was total shit. Iron Heights would be the death of me. My only option now was to go back to Star Labs.

“Felicity, get in contact with The Flash. Tell him we have a present for him,” the green one spoke through his headset.

“ _Got it. I’m sure Barry will be more than glad to have another one behind bars_ ,” Felicity spoke.

“It’s glass, actually,” I intervened. All their eyes shot up to me. “What can I say, I’ve got good ears. Make sure to tell Barry Allen that I said hello. And give my regards to Cisco.”

They all exchanged glances, and the green one stepped forward and hit me. I slumped to the ground and my vision faded to black.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually really surprised with the response from the first chapter. Almost 200 hits already on a ship I didn't think people shipped? Dayum. In any case, here's another chapter of it sooner than I had planned to post it but oh well. I already have a few chapters written up, but I'm wanting to space out the posting a little bit so that I can update semi-consistently.
> 
> Anyway, Barry finally makes an appearance this chapter, though it's brief and right at the end. For now it's mostly just setting the tone for the story and me getting used to writing Hartley's "challenging personality" haha. I hope you like it!

I woke up in a cage. Not like the one in the pipeline at Star Labs, an actual cage with bars and everything. I stood slowly, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and the sore spot on the side of my head.

“Hartley Rathaway,” someone said. I looked up and saw a familiar face; a tall man with broad shoulders and short hair. “When our friends at Star Labs told us your name, I could hardly believe it.”

“Oliver Queen. You’re the Arrow?” I scoffed. I could hardly believe it; the former heir to Queen Consolidated, now owned by Palmer, was the one running around at night shooting people with a bow and arrow.

“I am. And you’re the, what do they call you? Pied Piper?” he half-chuckled.

“On occasion. Most of them use my name. Except Cisco, who mostly prefers profanity,” I half-tease. “I think we’ve met before when we were younger, but I’m glad we’re able to look at each other from the same level.”

“We are not on the same level, Rathaway,” Oliver growled.

“Aren’t we, though?” I fired back, hands gripped around the bars. “Rejects from our companies, former billionaires, taken to the streets to do things our own way? Isn’t that your story as well?”

Oliver had no response, just turned away. “That’s what I thought.”

That’s not what I thought. But I knew how to push peoples’ buttons, and if Oliver was going to have me imprisoned, he was going to get something to chew on in the meantime.

The blonde girl behind him, whom I’d never seen before, spoke up. “Barry and Cisco are on their way from Star Labs. They’ll be here in a couple of hours.” I recognized her voice; this was Felicity, the girl on the other side of the headset.

“Felicity, I presume?” I asked. She hesitated, staring at me, and nodded. “Just checking.”

Felicity said that Barry and Cisco wouldn’t be arriving to “collect” me until morning. All things said and done, I liked her. She seemed genuine, too good to be sitting in a basement working with guys with masks and bows. But, hey, to each her own.

I sat for hours bored out of my mind. It was reminiscent of my brief time in the pipeline, but with slightly more entertainment. Felicity chewed her pen a lot and Roy (who I realized was the man in the red from the night before) paced when he was nervous. He was my “guard”, and was taking his duty rather seriously.

“Let me put your mind at ease, Roy,” I sighed. “No explosive device that I may or may not possess will be strong enough to take these bars out. So relax, will you? Your pacing is driving me insane.”

The man hesitated before turning to Felicity, who nodded in assurance. He relaxed visibly, his shoulders dropping and a sigh escaped him. He leaned on a table, as if catching his breath, and I couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

After a few hours, Roy switched shifts and “Dig” took his place. He was even more rigid than Roy, so I decided that making the explosives joke wasn’t a smart move. Eventually Oliver took his place, who more or less ignored me.

It was as refreshing as it was confusing.

“Not much of a talker, are you Oliver?” I spoke up.

“Haven’t got much to say to you,” he fired back. I smirked.

“I remember how you were back in the day, the first time we met,” I mused, and Oliver rolled his eyes across the room. “Never stopped drinking, talking to girls…what was her name you were always going on about? Laurel?”

“Shut up, Hartley,” he snapped.

“Yeah, that was her. Pretty girl, I saw her on TV a few months ago for a trial…who was it for? Oh, right, it was your mother,” I smiled sweetly. I saw his skin crawl and his eyes narrowed.

“Don’t talk about my mother,” he commanded, but I wasn’t intimidated. What was he going to do?

“Fine, as you wish. What would you like to talk about, Ollie?” I grinned. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shirt off. Felicity climbed slowly down the stairs, high heels striking the stairs and coffee in her hand. She pushed her glasses up off her nose and offered me a slight nod, which I returned (had to respect a girl who could deal with someone like Oliver daily). Oliver jumped up to grab a bar, and began climbing the ladder in a frustratingly attractive exercise.

I briefly locked eyes with Felicity, who was peering up from her phone to watch him. Her face flushed pink when she realized that I realized she was watching, but I just smiled at her. Oliver didn’t notice me for a while, focused on his training (and showing off to Felicity, I’d wager, though I doubt she minded). He eventually did notice, and the amused smirk on my face was not to be ignored.

“Something funny?” he asked nonchalantly, wiping his face with a towel.

“No, by all means, continue,” I teased. “I was just enjoying the show.”

Realization blinked to his eyes and Felicity snorted into her coffee. Oliver snatched his shirt from the table and crossed the room, placing Felicity between him and myself.

A familiar face climbed down the stairs. I remembered that face well from the TV.

Oliver offered a quiet “morning” to miss Lance and she smiled. Laurel approached my cage smugly, arms folded over her chest.

“Are your friends from Central going to be here soon?” she asked.

“Barry said that they were getting close about half an hour ago,” added Felicity. “I’d expect them soon.”

“Shame I can’t stick around, I was hoping to see him in cuffs before I head to work. I’ve got a trial today,” she elaborated. “Wish I were putting him in them myself.”

“Want to handcuff me, do you darling?” I teased and she scoffed. “Laurel Lance, attorney at law by day, Black Canary by night.” Laurel’s eyes narrowed at me. “Such a shame; here I thought lawyers were all smart enough to keep in the courtroom where they belong. How’s the hearing, by the way?”

Laurel rolled her eyes and turned on her heel to leave. She nodded at Oliver and climbed back up the stairs, passing two very familiar faces at the top of the steps. I smiled.

“And the cavalry as arrived,” I announced, standing inside my cell. Cisco and Barry glared in my general direction and I winked back. Barry rolled his eyes but Cisco didn’t falter.

“Barry, Cisco, it’s nice to see you guys,” Felicity greeted. She and Barry exchanged smiles and hugged. Cisco approached my cell.

“Nice to see you, too, Cisco,” I smirked. His face was priceless, all angry. “Sorry about ditching you like that last time. I appreciate you getting me out, just like I said you would.”

“Won’t happen again. Hearing aids, out,” he commanded.

My voice caught in my throat for a second. “You know I can’t do that.”

“You took them out easily enough at the lab. Several times, actually, so out,” he retorted.

“”Out of necessity. It’s piercing pain from the moment I take them out, and I replace them minutes after. It’ll be hours before we’re back in Central City.”

“You can’t be trusted with them,” Cisco explained. “I mean it, Hartley, take them out.”

Felicity was visibly uncomfortable across the room. “Cisco…” she muttered.

“Not now,” he snapped. “Hartley, last chance.”

“You will have to take me unconscious before I sit through four hours of that Hell,” I growled, stepping forward and grabbing at the bars. My nose was between the bars, my face as close to Cisco’s as I could manage. He stepped forward to match me.

“I’d be happy to arrange that,” he snarled. I glared at him; this wasn’t the Cisco I remembered, not by a longshot.  
“Then do it.” I turned around, arms folded over my chest defiantly.

“Someone tossed Cisco a key (probably Oliver) and he started unlocking the door.

Barry cleared his throat. “Cisco, I don’t know if we should…”

I didn’t hear him finish before Cisco knocked me out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, Barry's not that important in this chapter. Like, at all. But he'll get more screen time from now on, I promise! They finally start interacting in Chapter 3 :) Make sure to leave Kudos, Comments, Bookmarks, etc etc. See you all soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I waited as long as I could but this chapter is super exciting to me idk. So here ya go!

I awoke with a start to awful, piercing screaming in my ears.

I choked back a yelp and tried to cover my ears, but my hands were bound. I blinked sleep out of my eyes and saw the zip tie around my wrists, struggling against them.

“You won’t break them,” Barry informed me lazily. It sounded like it was shouting but I know it was little more than a whisper.

I took in my surroundings for a second, trying to focus on anything but the pounding in my head. I heard the tires on the road, gas burning, and pistons launching back and forth inside the hood of the car. I heard the waves being transmitted through the radio. I heard Barry’s and Cisco’s heartbeats, their breathing. His pulse made me think that he was still a little heated from our conversation earlier, so I probably hadn’t been out for long.

After only a couple minutes, it was too much and I whimpered involuntarily. Barry took notice and I heard the bones in his neck crack when he moved his head from the window (guess he’d been there a while, holy shit). I leaned over as far as I could and put my hands on the ground, trying to block my ears with my knees. It wasn’t working well, and all I could hear was the blood rushing through my arteries on top of everything else (though now muted slightly). It was maddening and honestly a little gross, but it was better than the full force of everything else.

“S-Shit,” I gasped, pressing them harder against the sides of my head.

“Cisco I think he needs help,” Barry offered, though Cisco didn’t offer a response for a few seconds.

“He’ll be fine for a couple more hours,” Cisco mumbled, still annoyingly audible. “Just ignore him.”

I tried to keep quiet, chewing on my lower lip. The last thing I wanted was to give Cisco the satisfaction of seeing me like this, or Barry’s stupid pity.

“Cisco he’s in pain, we can’t just leave him like this,” Barry replied. “Let’s just give him his hearing aids, I can handle it if he tries something.”

“Until he uses it as an explosive and throws it in your lap?” Cisco asked. I frowned at my boots. The last thing I needed was Barry fighting to help me. He was my captor, the one who’s responsible for me getting my ass kicked in the first place. Stop defending me, you prick.

“An explosive back here would hurt him as much as it would me,” Barry shot back. “He’s miserable. Aren’t we supposed to be the good guys?”

I had to speak up then, if nothing else just to keep face. Can’t disappoint Cisco for being the sassy shit that I am. “Hate to agree with Speedster over here on anything, but you’re the ones with ‘virtue’ and all that, aren’t you?”

Cisco responded by honking the horn. I screamed involuntarily as my ears exploded with pain, shooting through my head and down my spine like lightning. I reached up again with my hands but couldn’t free myself, and leaned over again to block it with my legs.

“Cisco, enough!” Barry demanded loudly, and I flinched from the pain of him yelling. Cisco flinched and kept his eyes on the road, and muttered an apology to his friend. “Hartley, sit up.”

I shook my head between my legs. Sitting up meant leaving my ears vulnerable again, and Cisco could be a dick again at any time. Barry urged me up by the back of my shirt, halfway against my will and I squeezed my eyes shut in preparation for the sound. His hands immediately flew over my ears, cupped to block out as much sound as possible. It helped, considerably in fact, but it was still way too loud to be comfortable.

My eyes fluttered open slowly and it only took a second for my vision to clear. What I was greeted with was a bright red spot on my right pants leg.

“Am I bleeding?” I half-whispered, throat raw from the scream that tore through me a few moments before. Barry pulled one hand away and muttered ‘oh shit’ under his breath.

“You blew his fucking eardrum out, Cisco,” Barry scolded. “He’s bleeding.”

“It’s fine, it’ll heal on its own,” I told him softly. “Hard to damage hearing like mine.”

Barry paused, blinking. “Wait, it’s not damaged? But your hearing aids…”

“More hearing suppressors, really,” I explained. “My hearing was enhanced after the particle accelerator, probably a side-effect. About the same time you got your speed, right?”

“Hartley, you’re a meta-human?” Cisco asked and I raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t know the terminology for it, but I suppose so,” I sighed. “Kind of got the short end of the stick compared to super speed, but oh well.”

I smiled up at Barry, making a joke. I hated the look of half-pity on his face. His stupid, annoying, oddly attractive face.

No denying, Barry was an attractive guy. After my ‘guy in head-to-toe’ leather comment as soon as I was brought into Star Labs, when I first saw his face, I knew that was a fact. He had the jawline of a statue and cheekbones to cut glass, and his stupid not-quite-green not-quite-blue eyes. Which on most people is nothing special, but then he’s all tall and shit. Ugh. Now if only I didn’t want to bash his head in every time I saw him, we could get somewhere.

The urge to headbutt him was still prevalent, but then his hands would come off and he’d yell and it would be a bad situation for us both.

“How romantic,” I joked regardless. Barry’s face flushed red and he turned his head, and I just snickered. Cisco scoffed from the front seat and sped the car up.

We stayed like that for about an hour, and we still had an hour to go when we stopped at a gas station. Cisco had to pee and the car needed gas, so he parked it at the first Speedway we came to.

“Be right back, Barry,” chimed Cisco, sliding out the driver’s side door. He slammed it behind him and I flinched, and Barry’s hands tightened over my ears.

“I’m fine, Barry,” I said, pushing his hands off my head. I realized that if I hold my wrists directly under my chin, my middle fingers just reach my ears. It wasn’t as quiet as Barry’s technique, but it was better than depending on him for help.

“Yeah, okay…” he said.

“Mind if I use the restroom as well?” I asked. I had to go; using the restroom wasn’t really an option in Oliver’s cage, and it can’t happen in a car either. Barry looked surprised about it. “What? Using the bathroom is still a meta-human thing, too, right?”

“I-Oh, oh yeah, sure,” Barry stuttered. “I…should probably go with you, right?”

“Well there’s always the possibility of there being a glory hole in a place like this,” I suggested, gesturing towards the sketchy looking gas station. Barry’s face went red and his face looked like he just bit into something sour. “Plus Cisco might have an aneurism if you leave me alone. Might run away.”

“I’m like ninety-percent sure I could catch you, so it could be okay,” he said. “But just in case.”

Barry and I slid out from each side of the car and he walked me into the restroom. We caught a weird look from the cashier; the both of us walking in together and my hands zip-tied with my fingers in my ears, but you’ll see weirder stuff than that in the service industry.

It wasn’t a private bathroom, so Barry came in with me and washed his hands. We passed Cisco who glared in my general direction but didn’t say anything, and muttered something about Cheetos to Barry. I ignored him and sat down in a stall. Working my zipper down wasn’t easy with my restraints but I made it work. I began relieving myself, and decided to have some more fun with making Barry uncomfortable.

“Ah, I was wrong about the glory hole. Mind checking the other stalls for me, darling?” I teased, and Barry choked on his spit. I heard a flush three stalls down and had to cover my mouth; I hadn’t been paying any attention to know there was someone else in here. He walked out of the bathroom without washing his hands, eager to escape whatever the hell he saw this as.

The door closed and Barry couldn’t help but chuckle. “Was I being rude?” I teased.

“No, just kind of gross,” Barry sighed, but I heard him smiling. I had to smile, thankful he couldn’t see me through the stall. “You almost done in there?”

“Yes, Barry, if you’ll hold on a few more seconds,” I sighed. I zipped myself up and plugged my ears again before flushing the toilet. I wish I had some clever escape attempt planned but without my hearing aids, I was defenseless against someone like Barry. Cisco, maybe, he only got me last time because I was handcuffed. But not Barry.

Barry bought some gummy worms before we headed back out to the car. An odd choice for an officer of the law slash superhero, but I didn’t comment on it.

Now that I could plug my own ears, Barry occupied his hands with his gummy worms. Occasionally he would throw one at Cisco, who either dropped it and swore in Spanish or pulled it out of his hair and ate it like a gorilla. I rolled my eyes each time, and Barry just smiled and Cisco used some sort of impolite gesture.

I fell asleep for a while, fingers glued to my ears despite my state of consciousness. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and slipped on my discarded glasses. Barry was watching me when I woke up, which I ignored. “How much longer? This zip-tie is starting to chafe,” I groaned, leaning back and hitting my head on the headrest.

“Not too much longer, Hartley,” Barry teased in a baby voice. “Here, have a gummy worm.”

“Dude,” scolded Cisco. “Don’t give gummy worms to the prisoner.”

“Oh, relax, Cisco, it’s not like he’ll blast out my hearing with a gummy worm,” Barry laughed. “Maybe that’s why he’s such an asshole, not enough sugar.”

“Or cavities, perhaps,” I offered. I was matched by Barry hitting me in the side of the head with a gummy worm, and I glared daggers. “Cute.”

“I try.”

Barry proceeded to eat the gummy worm he’d just hit me with. I hated this man.

Not ten minutes later I saw Central rising out of the distance, and dread started seeping into my chest. I had no control over this situation; I had no master plan, no way of escape. This was the first time I would walk into the pipeline truly feeling like a prisoner.

Barry noticed my distress; I didn’t bother trying to hide it. After all, who was I trying to impress, or to fool? He didn’t say anything; he had no reason to pity me, to do anything about it. I was dangerous, someone to be in captivity. To be held prisoner.

“I’m never going to leave this place, am I?” I asked. Neither Barry or Cisco answered.

They took me inside, Barry bringing me in at Flash-speed to avoid onlookers. All of a sudden I was standing back in Star Labs, a way more hostile environment than I used to work in. Caitlin and Wells were both there, the latter still in his wheelchair and Caitlin leaning against the desk.

“Nice to see you both again,” I greeted semi-sarcastically, shaking Barry’s hand off my shoulder. He sighed and cut my zip-tie off with a knife, wherever that came from (probably Flashed when I wasn’t looking).

“No witty remarks today, Mr. Rathaway?” Wells asked. He and I exchanged a glance before mine gravitated back to the floor.

“None that will benefit either of us in any way. I’ve got nothing to back it up, and I’m not ashamed to admit when I’ve been beaten,” I reply. Caitlin seemed surprised by that, turning away as if satisfied. Wells merely nodded yet didn’t blink.

“Let’s get going, Hartley,” Barry ordered. I nodded and didn’t look up as I began walking towards the pipeline entrances. I knew the way.

We found our way down there after a couple of minutes and Barry took me to my designated cell and locked me inside.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Hartley,” Barry said. He gave me a mock-salute which I didn’t return, and I waited for the door to close behind him before lowering myself onto the ground.

I kept my ears plugged. It was an excuse to sink my head between my knees so they couldn’t see my shame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, rest in fucking pieces my emotions. Anyway, there might be a slight delay in me posting the next chapter. Although I already have most of it written, several assignments are coming up and I need to get caught up. Luckily I have this weekend off for Easter, so I can get some work done :D Hope you all liked it! Remember to comment, bookmark, kudos, etc. (PS. I read all comments, they're my favorite!) Thanks for reading!!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, glad that's over! Now that I can start posting again, let's start with our first plot twist! :D

If I thought sound was insanely loud after the explosion, silence was even more deafening.

Despite my hearing aids, my hearing was still extremely advanced. I could pick up sound waves and even learned to differentiate between different waves to find the megahertz. But this cell…it was just dead quiet, day in and day out.

Well, most of the time. On occasion I could pick up a tiny muffled shout from a neighboring meta-human, or a quiet sob from the cell to my right. I didn’t know the girl’s name, or who she even was, but I was able to pick up something about a boyfriend? I wasn’t sure. And on the other side was some meathead who kept hitting the glass as hard as he could, trying to get loose. Didn’t know who he was either.

My only real source of entertainment came from when my buddies at Star Labs came to bring me food or to go to the restroom. Something they probably didn’t consider when starting a little prison was bathroom breaks, bathing, feeding us, and so on. Bathroom breaks are offered every two hours except at night, and if you say no to a bathroom break, you have to hold it. You’re fitted with one of Cisco’s inventions; a variation of the handcuffs he’d used to hold me when we went out to look at the bomb shadow. One girl is given a blindfold, I’d overheard, because her power was triggered by sight. I think she was the crying girl in the adjacent cell to me, but I hadn’t bothered to ask.

As for showers, those were daily, and overseen by one of Star Lab’s finest. Usually it was Cisco in my case, who stood outside the bathroom and chose to ignore me entirely. Since my powers were ‘rudimentary’ and not dangerous, I was allowed to forgo handcuffs since I had no real chance of escaping. Plus, my new hearing aids (courtesy of Cisco) were outfitted to be triggered at any moment, causing excruciating pain until I can be reclaimed.

Barry took care of the food most of the time. I never see it prepared but it’s always steaming hot when it makes its way to my cell. The dishes change, but it’s usually relatively healthy and actually not bad to eat, especially given the circumstances. There’s no mess hall for meta-humans or anything like that; I left my cell to bathe and to use the restroom, and then I was right back in. No pit stops.

It was hard to get a straight answer out of any of the crew from Star Labs. I hadn’t seen Wells since Barry and Cisco first brought me in, and the rest of them gave me the cold shoulder. I think they just had to block me out; Barry probably did it because he didn’t know me before, and Cisco flat out hated me. Caitlin I expected to be more open; we’d worked together for quite some time before I was relieved of my position. I think she might have felt guilty about the whole situation.

From what I could tell, I’d been in the cell about a month and a few days. Three meals a day, all courtesy of Barry unless he was unavailable. Occasionally they would miss a meal, not on purpose I’m sure, but they’re busy people and it’s not like Wells was going to make the trip.

Not that he couldn’t. The wheelchair was a farce, of course, and he’s just as fast as Barry. Maybe faster.

I was still wondering if I should bring that up. I’d considered using it as a bargaining chip again, maybe with Barry, to get myself out of here. But with these hearing aids in and Barry’s speed, getting a cheap shot wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as it was before. But I know what I saw the night I attacked Harrison’s house; he was walking, firstly, and then to escape the glass he ran. _Fast_. Fast like only Barry could, or so we all thought. I still wasn’t sure what the story was there.

I didn’t get more time to ponder on it before Barry stormed in at top-speed, stopping flat in front of my cell. He was in his suit, the giant pile of leather that it is. Cisco always had a flare for the dramatic.

“Running a little late, I see?” I asked, trying to spark up some kind of a conversation. Barry was generally a nice guy and I was dying to just talk to someone.

“Yeah, had a thing to take care of,” Barry elaborated, gesturing to his suit.

“Ahh, I see,” I mused. I looked to Barry’s hand, clutching a bag of McDonald’s. “I don’t get any of your famous cooking today?”

“You…like my cooking?” he asked, an eyebrow cocked.

I simply shrugged. “Is it so surprising? It’s healthy, well balanced, still hot when it makes its way down here. I honestly expected TV Dinners from the break room’s microwave, so actual meals were a pleasant surprise,” I explained. “Yet today it’s fast food. Is this to be a treat or a substitute?”

It was his turn to shrug, and passed it through the slot Cisco had installed a few weeks back. I pushed it back through, the scent itself unsatisfying. “Not hungry.”

“You haven’t eaten much the past few days, Hartley,” Barry sighed, concern present on his face. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Ahh, to be doted after by the Flash. There are a lot of damsels out there who need it more than me, Barry,” I teased. Barry rolled his eyes, folding his arms over. “I’m fine. Just an upset stomach, nothing to worry your pretty little head over. Now run along.”

Ugh, the bad part is that I wanted to keep talking to him, but the more I talked the more I realized we had nothing to talk about. In the car there was at least a conversational atmosphere, but now it was truly jailor and prisoner. The walls built were more than glass, and I was just another meta human in a cell.

Barry agreed, grabbing the bag and darting away. I supposed he would give it to someone else, or maybe eat it himself, or maybe just throw it away. I didn’t care much.

By the next time Barry rolled around, I still wasn’t hungry. My stomach was actually starting to hurt from the lack of food, but I just had no desire to eat. It was his cooking this time, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “Hartley, you have to eat something,” he scolded.

“Am I not allowed to get down from the table until I do?” I shot back and he sighed. “I’m your prisoner, not your child. So stop doting over me like a mother who’s lost her kid at the mall.”

Barry ran a hand through his tussled hair. He’d had a busy day as the Flash, I think, and it had flattened against his head mostly from that ridiculous mask of his. When he removed his fingers it was sticking up at odd angles, not like the normal style he usually wore. “While I’m here, do you need to go to the bathroom?”

I sighed. I supposed it couldn’t hurt to at least stretch my legs a little. “Sure, why not?”

I sat up slowly, my usual spot leaning against the back wall abandoned. About halfway up I hesitated, hand flying to my stomach as a sharp pain shot through. I gasped and Barry flinched, running up to me (at only slightly meta human speeds). He was inches away, eyes locked on me and eyes wide. He was wondering if I was alright, and I could only roll my eyes and push past him. One stomach cramp and it was the end of the world with this guy.

Barry escorted me to the restroom, and I ignored his worried look just as I entered the restroom. I rested on the toilet.

Ten minutes passed, then fifteen. Barry knocked on the door. “Just a minute, I…” I hesitated. Nothing had happened…I pushed, and it’s gross to think about, but it was to no avail.

The door opened, and my hands flew over my lap. “Hey, you mind?!” I asked. He immediately shielded his eyes, one hand slapped over his face.

“Sorry, you’ve just been in there a long time. I looked up some stuff on random pains in your stomach and groin,” he mumbled, still embarrassed. “I got everything from parasites to prostate cancer, so I think you need to go to a doctor.”

“My groin doesn’t hurt, Barry, but if suggesting prostate cancer is your roundabout way of asking to finger me, you’re not a very good flirt,” I muttered and Barry sputtered. I rolled my eyes. “Can you get out? I’m trying to…”

“Yeah, it’s taking forever. Are you, like…” he paused, embarrassed. “Backed up?’

I sighed. “Yes, Barry, I’m a little ‘backed up’. I’m fine, can you please piss off?” I half yelled. Barry’s eyes went down and he closed the door. Great, now I felt like an asshole. I used to yell at people all the time, hell I tried to kill this guy, but now it just felt like kicking a rabbit.

After a couple more minutes, I gave up, flushing the toilet just to try to get Barry off my back. I stood and immediately regretted it, as pain shot through me again. I stumbled and caught myself on the sink, gasping for air. It knocked the breath out of me for a second but I caught my breath, biting my tongue and steadying myself. I opened the door and it happened again and this time Barry caught me, and immediately I knew he was going to flip.

“Jesus Christ, Barry, I’m fine,” I lied. My stomach was killing me now, but the last thing I needed was Barry’s pity or worse, to owe him anything.

“No, you’re not. You need to see a doctor,” he scolded.

“Fine, I’ll talk to Caitlin, where is she?”

“Out. I don’t know when she’ll be back,” he said. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”

“No, you’re really not,” I shot back. “So back to my cell and we’ll be—”

Barry grabbed my shoulder and I felt a huge rush of wind, my stomach leaped into my throat and I immediately vomited on the ground.

I was outside now. I felt the wind on my face and the sun on the back of my neck which burned slightly. Now my vision was swimming and my mouth tasted like bad lasagna, my stomach hurt and everything just _sucked_.

I looked up and Barry was still there, crouching beside me in a hospital parking lot. “I hate you, Barry Allen,” I mumbled. He muttered something along the lines of ‘I know’, lost in the sea of my other senses, and began helping me inside.

He sat me down in the lobby and went to check me in. They said it would be a short wait, which meant it would be an hour or five. I tried to settle in the uncomfortable seat that made me sit too straight up to be comfortable with the pain in my stomach. It was getting progressively worse as time passed, and Barry (who had taken a seat on my left) had little to do in the ways of comforting me.

He offered me a magazine from the coffee table in front of us. I took it from him, half out of courtesy for him and desperation to focus on anything but the pain in my stomach.

“Sports Illustrated, 2011 Swimsuit Edition,” I mused aloud. I handed it back to him. “Not interested in an updated one of those, much less one four years outdated.”

“Just trying to…oh, whatever,” he groaned, half-slapping it on the table. “I don’t know why I try to be nice to you anyway.”

“Join the club,” I sighed, rolling my eyes at him. I did that a lot, I realized, but not without good reason.

“You tried to kill Doctor Wells, you tried to kill Cisco, hell you tried to kill me,” he listed off. A woman a few seats down looked uncomfortable overhearing us, and I shot her a wink that made her take a deeper interest in her own magazine.

“To be fair, I never tried killing Ciscoooo _oooh_ , shit,” I groaned, clutching at my stomach. _That_ one felt different.

“Oh, shit, are you alright?” he asked, immediately forgetting what he was just saying.

“ _Peachy_ , you halfwit,” I growled through my teeth and he almost chuckled at that. “Might want to convince that nurse to speed this up, eh?”

Barry nodded and leaped out of his seat, approaching the desk again. He and the nurse exchanged a few words before she looked at Hartley for a moment and then back to Barry. She nodded and made a call through the intercom system. Barry was hardly back to his seat (he does this ridiculous thing that, in his attempts to not move too fast, accidentally moves too slowly and looks like an idiot) by the time a nurse had arrived to take me to a room.

Once there, I was barely settled on the table (with a little of Barry’s help, I admit it) before the doctor arrived. She was a middle aged woman, with matted gray hair and an overbite to put a beaver to shame. “What’s the problem?”

“A little stomach cramp,” I explained, still rubbing the sore spot with a feather touch. “My partner just wouldn’t let it go and insisted I come to the hospital.”

“Wait, no, we aren’t—” Barry sputtered, but calmed himself. “He’s having trouble…going to the bathroom, and he’s barely eating. Plus the stomach…”

“Oh don’t mind him, doctor,” I interrupted. Barry just blinked at me. “He’s being a drama queen.”

“Hartley, you—”

“Oh hush. Anyway, as my beloved was just about to say, I’m completely fine so can we get this over with?” I sighed. The doctor’s eyes darted between us and sighed, exasperated by what had just happened. She pulled her glasses closer to her eyes and leaned over and asked me to lift my shirt. It took a moment to get it up but once I did, her freezing cold hands began rubbing on my stomach. She added pressure and it was immediately relieved, and I sighed. Then she pulled it away and the pain intensified, and I yelled.

“Oh dear. Did that hurt a lot?” she asked. I glared at the doctor.

“No _shit_ , you imbe—” Barry shushed me before I could insult him further. The doctor didn’t seem bothered by what I almost said, distracted.

“We’re going to need to operate very soon. An hour at most, preferably sooner,” she decided. My throat dropped into my stomach and Barry’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, _operate_?” Barry asked. “What the hell is wrong with him?”

“Appendicitis, I think. Constipation, loss of appetite, pain when pressure is relieved from the abdomen? I’d say it’s about to burst, if it hasn’t already,” he explained. I felt my face go white and Barry had the biggest _I told you so_ brewing in the back of his throat, I just knew it.

“Get prepped for surgery, Mister…?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, Rathaway,” I muttered. The doctor nodded.

“I’ll have the nurse bring you a gown in a few minutes. I’m sure your partner can help you get dressed,” she suggested. The doctor shook his head and exited the room, and a nurse stepped in a moment later to hand Barry a gown. As soon as she left, Barry passed it on to me.

“Thanks for the help, darling,” I rolled my eyes. I grinned to myself, eager to tease Barry some more. “Speaking of which, these things are open in the back, so if you’d like to check for prostate cancer just in case he’s wrong…”

“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Barry walked out of the room entirely, and I heard him lean against the door. I chuckled but it hurt, so I cut that out immediately.

It took a few minutes for me to work the gown on, and I couldn’t get it tied in the back so I just left it with a sigh. I knocked on the door and Barry came back in. I almost asked if he would help with the gown but baring it all to the Flash was not on my to-do list. I sat down and pretended that wasn’t a thing.

“How are you feeling?” Barry asked, genuinely worried.

“Lovely. I’m excited for them to cut me open and remove my appendix. It might have even burst already, so they’ll just have to pick out the pieces,” I grumbled, fuming. This was bullshit. “Let’s just get this over with so I can go back to my cozy little cell, alright?”

The doctor arrived before Barry could react. She urged me to lie down in the bed so I could be wheeled away for prep. I groaned and lied back, panic in my chest; I’d never had surgery before except for my wisdom teeth and my tonsils, which hardly counted.

“I can assume you’ll be here when I get out?” I asked, blinking up at Barry. I played up the puppy eyes just because, and Barry was _so done with me_. He murmured an affirmative and I grinned as they took me away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Hartley. Rule #1 of writing: treat your characters like children, then do horrible, horrible things to them. Authors should never be parents.
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter! I hope to have the next one up sooner, so keep checking back!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So did I mention the whole switching POV thing? Because that'll happen occasionally. I felt like this one was better told from a...clearer head. So poof! Barry's perspective this time. Enjoy!

Hartley had been in surgery for a while now.

Once the nurses took him, I took a few seconds to run home and grab some things. My phone charger, two books. I had the foresight to grab some comfortable clothes for Hartley when he gets out.

I paused at the door when I saw Joe in the living room, coffee in his hand. I eyed the clock; he must have a lot of work to do to be drinking coffee this late. He raised an eyebrow at me. “Evening, Barry,” he greeted awkwardly.

“Hey Joe. Sorry, gotta get back to the hospital,” I said, trying to get out the door.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, uh, Hartley got sick and is in surgery. His appendix, like, exploded,” I explained. Joe made that face that is usually accompanied by a “yeesh” or something.

“Alright, just keep an eye on him,” requested Joe. He paused to take a sip of his coffee. “Last thing we need right now is the ‘Pied Piper’ back on the streets.”

I nodded and ran back to the Hospital.

Hartley still wouldn’t be out for a while, and by the time he would be, visiting hours would be over. I busied myself with a phone for a bit. When I got bored of that, I started on my book. I could’ve just sped through it but that ruined the point of a time-killer. Only a few chapters in, my phone rang with Cisco’s ringtone.

“Hey Cis—”

“ _Barry, I need you back at the lab,_ ” he panicked. “ _Hartley is gone but I’ve got the Lab on lockdown, he’s still in here somewhere._ ”

“Cisco, I…”

“ _We should’ve handcuffed him 24/7, he can’t be trusted at all when we recover him!_ ” he half-yelled, as if hoping Hartley would overhear him.

“Cisco, it’s fine, he’s with me…kind of,” I trailed off. “We’re at the hospital. Hartley got sick, he’s in surgery.”

“ _What happened?_ ”

“Appendicitis. It’s being removed, but he should be back at the pipeline in a day or two,” I elaborated. Cisco sighed on the other end.

“ _Shoot, okay,_ ” he breathed. “ _Next time you take a dangerous meta-human from our **secret underground supervillain prison** , can you let a guy know first?_”

“Will do. I’ll call you when he’s out of surgery, Mom,” I teased. Cisco muttered something in Spanish and ended the call.

A few hours later, I woke up from a nap I hadn’t meant to take. I’d passed out in the middle of my book which ended up on the floor with the pages bent at weird angles. Crap, that book was never going to close properly again.

The time on my phone said 6:18 A.M., so I slept for quite some time. Visiting hours weren’t until 8 and dealing with that book’s newly jank pages didn’t sound all that appealing.

I wondered how Hartley was doing. He was probably out of surgery by now, but I couldn’t actually visit him until 8. I could probably ask the nurses, but I felt like I’d bothered them enough. Plus Hartley said we were ‘partners’, and he didn’t mean in the old-western way.

I still hadn’t figured that one out. Nobody knew better than Hartley how to push peoples’ buttons, but Hartley didn’t know my buttons, did he? We didn’t have a personal relationship like Hartley did with Cisco and the others. No, we weren’t Barry and Hartley, we were The Flash and the Pied Piper.

But that brought me back around. Why even make the joke? He had nothing to gain for it, which is what counted to him. That’s one thing Cisco never needed to tell me about the villain; I already knew that he was out for himself.

Trying to overthink this would be the death of me. I was a smart guy, but Hartley was out of my league. If this was part of his master plan, I wasn’t seeing it.

I drifted through the next hour and a half aimlessly in thought, thinking about nothing as if in a trance. The alarm I’d set on my phone for 8 a.m. rang, and I jumped up to the front desk. “Is it okay if I visit my…friend now?” I didn’t know what else to call him without explaining the whole thing. The nurse nodded, and gave me Hartley’s room number.

I half-expected to find Hartley crawling out the window to try to escape, but he was still asleep in his bed when I walked in. I sighed and sat down next to him.

He stirred and I jumped; guess he wasn’t asleep after all. His head rolled over and he gave me a dopey smile. “Hey, Mr. Flashhhhh,” he droned, chuckling to himself.

“Shh, Hartley,” I scolded. “You can’t say stuff like that here.”

“Right, right, you wear that mask,” he recalled. “Your secret is safe with me, boss.” He gave me a mock salute with the hand that wasn’t hooked up to an IV.

“You’re ridiculous,” I chuckled.

“Yeah. It’s this _awesome_ medicine they put me on,” he grinned stupidly. “I love morphine.”

“Yes you do.”

He paused for a second, spaced out in the distance. I never realized how many moles Hartley had on his face. His dark brown hair was tussled but I couldn’t tell if it was just messy or if he liked it that way. The usual intelligence in his eyes was gone, glazed over by painkillers.

It was a lot easier to forget he’s a sociopath when he’s drugged to Hell. And not talking. That helps, too.

“Any chance of you letting me go?” Hartley asked hopefully, voice cracking. For a second I felt bad for him, that he was being kept prisoner like this, but then I remembered why he was here in the first place. I shook my head. “Yeah, I figured. You’re all…noble and stuff.”

Hartley shrugged and tried unhooking the IV in his hand. I dashed around the bed and stopped him, trapping his hands together. He looked up at me like a kicked puppy. “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked.

“Free or not, I can’t pay for this Hospital bill,” he mumbled. “No money, no insurance, no family to claim me.”

“But aren’t your parents, like, loaded?” I asked.

“Sure, but they claim I’m not their son anymore,” he said, wearing a fake smile. “Because I’m a a big ol’ queer!”

Something shook in my chest. Hartley’s face dropped. The drugs had removed his filter, made him vulnerable to everything he’d bottled up for years. Tears gathered on the rims of his eyelids but he refused to let them spill. Seeing him like this was…unnerving.

“I’m sorry. I forgot—” he cut me off.

“You don’t have to apologize, Allen, you owe me nothing,” interrupted Hartley. “You’re the big hero, I’m your nasty nemesis. Cops and robbers.” His face wrinkled and his nose scrunched up. “God, I am a robber now. Oliver Queen is a dick.”

“I know.”

“Good, we do agree on something,” Hartley half-smiled, his problems seemingly forgotten. “So can we get out of here?”

“No. I’ll talk to Wells, we’ll figure something out. For now, get some rest,” I comforted him. Hartley sighed and nodded, too tired or disoriented to refuse help from his former mentor.

True to my word, I stepped into the hallway to call Wells. He said he could “call in a favor”, whatever that meant, to waive his hospital fees. I didn’t know how he could swing something like that and I didn’t ask; I thanked him gratefully.

“ _And one last thing, Barry,_ ” Wells concluded. “ _Don’t let Hartley get into your head. He’s a master manipulator, as I’m sure you recall.”_

“Got it. Thanks again,” I said. Wells hung up first and I just stared at my phone. What was _that_ about? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YaaaAAAaAy feels. God I love these dorks.
> 
> Hope you liked it! Be sure to leave Kudos, Comments, later :D


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait until tomorrow to post until I realized that there was no episode of Flash tonight :( so I decided, fuck it, let's give the people another chapter. We're back to Hartley's perspective this chapter. Here's hoping you like it!

Morphine was _awesome_.

I’d never done drugs before, but this stuff made all the pain go poof. My head was a little sore from the incessant beeping of my heart monitor, but aside from that everything was just great.

At least until they wore out. Then my stomach started hurting again, which was not fun.

Barry hardly left my side. Sometimes he went to the restroom, sometimes to get something from the snack machine. Nothing really tasted right to me, so I let Barry have my pieces. He always protested at first, saying that I needed to eat, too. But he went through calories like Diesel, and eventually he gave in.

I liked when he was quiet. Not because he was particularly annoying or anything, quite the opposite. Barry was surprisingly nice to talk to. For someone who was used to moving so fast, though, his down time was rather strange to observe.

He chewed his nails, and sometimes his head drooped before he jerked himself back awake. I never commented on it aloud; if I did, he might correct himself, which would be a shame.

“Hey, how you feeling?” Barry asked after a long period of silence. I assessed myself quickly; my stomach didn’t hurt as much since the nurse came in, and Barry was there.

“I’m okay,” I simplified. Barry relaxed a little before his phone rang. He dove into his pocket and answered his call.

“Hey, Cisco,” he greeted.

“ _We need you. Situation downtown,_ ” Cisco said vaguely. He knew I was listening, probably, and took steps to make sure I didn’t know anything.

“Got it. What do we do about…” Barry trailed off.

“ _Caitlin is already on her way. Now hurry!_ ” Cisco urged. Barry nodded and hung up, then turned back to me.

“I guess you heard that?” he asked. I nodded. “Okay, then. Gotta run.” Barry vanished in a flash of lightning. I sighed, lying my head back against the pillow.

Being alone was worse than being with Barry, even if we didn’t talk much. It felt like I was back in my cell in the pipeline, but a little bigger and white instead of blue. Plus I had a bed, which was nice.

I wondered if Barry would come back once he was done with whatever Cisco called about. Doubtful, I’d wager, since he had been here for so long already. Caitlin would probably be the one to take me “home”.

Speak of the devil, she walked in only moments later. Traffic must have been awesome.

“Good evening, Hartley,” she greeted stiffly. I smiled and waved which, might I add, was not easy on account of my hand being hooked up to an IV. “How are you feeling?”

“Super,” I grinned. “Doc says I can go home in the morning.”

“Good. I can stay here until then,” she said. “Doctor Wells said to remind you about your hearing aids, and that—”

“They can be triggered at any time, blah, blah blah, blah,” I snickered. “I’m not in any state to run away, Caitlin.”

She was quiet for a bit, which kind of sucked. She wasn’t as fun to watch as Barry was. She was more…steady, maybe? She hardly moved except to brush her hair out of her eyes or to check her texts. Plus, she wasn’t nearly as cute.

Whoa, where did _that_ come from? Better file that away for later when I’m sober. I had something to ask Caitlin, anyway.

“Oh, by the way,” I began. “What did you guys figure out about Ronnie?”

She shifted in her seat, visibly uncomfortable. Did I cross a line somewhere? It felt like an okay enough question, but maybe it just felt that way because of morphine brain.

“We found Ronnie, alive,” she added softly. “We were able to separate him and Stein for a time, but…situations arose, and he had to leave. He and Doctor Stein fused again. He’s fine, as far as I know.”

“I see,” I mumbled, mulling it over. “All things aside, I’m glad he’s alive. He was…honest when we worked together. Plus he was _crazy_ hot.” I blinked. “Ha, puns.”

Even Caitlin chuckled at that. Her smile remained and she relaxed, even if only a little. “Lots of attractive people worked at Star Labs. Ronnie’s hot, you’re pretty, Barry is _smoking_ ,” I trailed off. Oops, didn’t mean to say that.

“You think Barry’s cute?” she asked, an eyebrow raised. I hesitated, chewing my lip. I shrugged.

“Don’t you?”

“I mean, yeah, but,” she stuttered. “It’s just weird hearing you talk about him like that.”

I snickered and rolled my eyes at her. “It’s not like you’ve never known me to date anyone. I dated that guy…Chip. The firefighter,” I recalled.

“He’s why you made the original designs for Barry’s suit,” Caitlin added, and I nodded. Chip was nice. Until he cheated on me with his current wife, which was a dick move.

It wasn’t like the idea of dating Barry was so deplorable, it was just ridiculous to think about. Ignoring the whole dom/sub bullshit that my state of imprisonment suggested, it was just impossible to imagine as realistic. One, I had no reason to believe Barry was even remotely interested in anything other than women. Two, he and I had fought each other. I tried to kill him, I almost succeeded. That’s not the kind of thing you could get over.

Then let’s not even mention that, even under normal circumstances, Barry was _way_ out of my league. I could go on all day to him about how he’s not worth my time, but the fact of the matter is that he was too good for me. He was genuinely a good person, and I had tried throwing people off a bridge.

Caitlin was watching me closely. “What, Doctor Snow,” I mused, trying to forget my depressing train of thought. “Are you thinking so hard about?”

“You’re different. From when you left Star Labs, I mean. You’ve changed a lot.”

“That, my dear, would be the morphine,” I smiled, tapping my IV, but she didn’t falter.

“It’s more than that. You’re still…condescending, arrogant, rude. Hell, you tried killing Barry and Doctor Wells. But even so, it’s like you’re more sure of yourself now. You don’t lash out aimlessly,” she explained.

I chewed on my lower lip. I didn’t want a lecture, or to hear her opinion of me. She was just being polite, I was sure; I knew what she really thought of me, what they all thought of me at Star Labs. Even Barry. But I had no energy for confrontation.

“That’s sweet of you to say,” I muttered, forcing a smile. If Caitlin noticed it, she said nothing.

“You know, prisons aren’t meant to punish their inmates. They’re supposed to be places of reform,” she said. “Maybe there’s still hope for you yet.”

I rolled my eyes at her. The doctor came in a few minutes later to let me know they were taking me off my pain meds and switching me over to a weaker one.

“This will be the medicine you take home as well,” the doctor explained. She turned to Caitlin. “Will you be taking care of him through his recovery?”

“Yes, I am. Doctor Caitlin Snow,” she introduced herself, shaking the physician’s hand.

“A doctor, good. Then you should know to make sure he takes his pain meds, but the antibiotics are more important. His appendix burst just before the operation, and the bacteria could be life threatening without these. Hear that, Mr. Rathaway?”

I gave the doctor a thumbs-up and she smiled. She and Caitlin exchanged a few words before the older woman departed and Caitlin reclaimed her seat.

She and I exchanged small talk until visiting hours were over. Normally I wouldn’t bother with such things, but it was nice to let ideas bounce around. We talked about her work with The Flash, and an idea or two improve his suit. A few of the key features I’d wanted to add in its conception were lost, and I suggested putting them back. She said that Cisco had put in a way to counter me specifically against using Barry’s frequency, which sucked.

Eventually she had to leave so that I could rest. Trying to sleep was harder than I thought since the new pain medicine wasn’t as strong, and the pain was distracting.

I thought a lot about Star Labs. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping on the floor of an anti-proton cavity while my stomach was still healing.

Then I thought about what Caitlin had said. I hadn’t changed _that_ much, had I? I don’t know what the cause could have been if I had.

I thought about getting out, too. I could probably make it out the window, but then what? I wasn’t likely to recover without these antibiotics, a prescription that would be filled later. Caitlin probably had the paper for that.

I wonder what I would do if I did get out. Maybe I’d go find another lab to work at. Maybe Mercury Labs? It wasn’t ideal, but it was a job.

Maybe there I could rebuild my gloves, finally get to take out Barry and Wells. It was kind of a shame to think of Barry like that now, but he would try to stop me. Wells still needed to pay.

Was taking out Barry what I really wanted though? Maybe if he knew about Wells’ powers, he’d know that Wells wasn’t to be trusted. I could even turn this to my advantage, get Barry to help me. That’d be a plot twist.

I didn’t even realize that I’d fallen asleep, but I woke up to a bright light in my eyes. Morning had come and it was time for me to leave.

A nurse brought me breakfast which I forced myself to eat despite that it tasted like glorified roadkill. I remembered that Barry had brought me clothes to change into. I forced myself out of bed with minimal pain and retrieved them from a cabinet near my bed. It was hardly an attractive outfit; a pair of too-baggy sweatpants and a too-big Star Labs sweatshirt. I changed slowly, as lifting my arms hurt worse than I’d expected.

I rolled up the sleeves of the sweatshirt but had to accept that the sweatpants weren’t going to cooperate. I couldn’t bend over to roll them up, so I resorted to pulling them up just a little higher than usual to keep them from covering my feet. I tied it as tightly as I could without hurting myself.

Caitlin and I exited the Hospital a few minutes later. She was amused at my state of dress and likened it to a “walk of shame”, which earned her a middle finger for the joke. I’d already thought of it myself, not that I particularly minded the thought of it.

It didn’t help that Barry’s smell was _all over_ the damn sweatshirt. I had trouble finding something to compare it to; it was like coffee mixed with fresh ink. That didn’t sound appealing in any way, but for some reason it was intoxicating. I spend most of the drive back trying to pretend I wasn’t enjoying it as well as pretending I hated Caitlin’s taste in music.

I like the classics as much as the next individual, but Nicki can rap. I sure didn’t expect Caitlin to agree on that.

She pulled up to Star Labs and shifted her car into park. I climbed out slowly, Caitlin urging me not to stress myself which I ignored. I breathed once, twice, and a third time before straightening myself, stretching the incision a little trying to help my aching back. It worked a little, and I walked behind Caitlin into the Lab.

Harrison was there, waiting for me. I ignored the sideways glance he gave me as Caitlin and I paused in the main room. Barry’s suit was back on its mannequin and its owner standing in front of it, hands on his hips. He and Cisco exchanged a glance, and the three of them looked at me expectantly.

“What’s going on?” Caitlin asked. They were all uncomfortable, I could tell.

“If we could all speed this up, I’d like to go sit down,” I sassed. Cisco rolled his eyes and I saw him resist the urge to leave the room. Harrison didn’t react at all and Barry was watching me closely, gauging my reaction to whatever was about to be said.

“Something’s happened downtown,” Harrison began, turning his chair to face me. “You’re familiar with Leonard Snart and his associates?”

“I’ve heard the name. Also heard that he got ahold of some tech from Star Labs,” I explained. “Am I to believe he’s starting trouble in Central again?”

“Indeed,” Wells confirmed. “But he’s got a very specific target in mind.”

Barry interrupted the good doctor. “He’s going after Rathaway Industries.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you like a fun fact?
> 
> In the original script for the Pilot episode of The Flash, Hartley was still at Star Labs. In it, he'd actually designed Barry's suit for his ex-boyfriend, a firefighter named Chip. A fun little thing I decided to throw in, it's not really relevant lmao.
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked the chapter! Remember to leave Kudos and Comments, I love and read them all :D I'll probably wait a couple of days to post again. My posting is catching up with my writing and I want to make sure this is updated regularly. Seeya later!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told myself I'd upload a chapter today. Got it up just in time!! :)

Rathaway Industries. The name burned my ears.

Ever since my disownment, I’d thought little of my former legacy. The company branched out a lot; it was like what Queen Consolidated had once been, just less successful. Not that the company was shabby by any means; its tech department was practically unrivaled, and its advances in medicine had been spectacular.

And now it was under attack? I was so giddy I could hardly stand it.

“That’s certainly good news,” I chuckled, and Cisco didn’t seem to enjoy it. “Thanks. I needed something to cheer me up during my recovery.”

“You mean this doesn’t bother you at all?” Barry asked in disbelief.

“And why should it? I’ve no ties to that company anymore,” I scoffed. “I’m no heir, not anymore. Let my parents deal with the consequences, it doesn’t concern me.”

“Actually, it does,” Cisco said smugly.

Harrison silently scolded Cisco, who backed down like the well-trained mutt he is. Harrison approached me slowly, wheels slowing him to a halt mere feet in front of me. He looked pained by what he was about to say. “We…” he paused. “Need your help.”

It took everything in me not to laugh in his face. “You’re joking.”

“Unfortunately not,” Cisco mumbled, and Barry slapped his shoulder.

“A signal was recently detected hacking into Rathaway Industry’s mainframe. They pulled out some what we believe to be sensitive information, and our good friend Miss Smoak in Starling City were able to pin a name to the IP Address,” Harrison elaborated. I smiled; Felicity _would_ be a good hacker. “Snart’s situation with us is…unique. We can’t arrest him or lock him up, but we’re compelled to combat him whenever he makes a move. Such as now.”

I mulled it over. “So what does this have to do with me?”

“We can’t influence the police in any way. If he’s arrested, we will face certain…consequences,” Harrison hesitated. “We’re fortunate that Mr. Allen hasn’t been put on the case. We’re going to approach the CEO of the company discreetly, offering our assistance.”

“My parents won’t accept your help if I’m involved, you’re wasting your time,” I scoffed. Harrison didn’t falter, eyes still locked on me. I resisted the shiver down my back; I’d seen him use that very look dozens of times, just so intently on me before.

“I think we both know, Hartley, that your parents’ company is very important to them. A small blow to their pride will not deter them from protecting their wealth.”

I breathed out my nose. “I’m not helping you. For all I care, that company can burn.”

I left for the Infirmary, where Caitlin had mentioned I would be staying until I recovered. I heard footsteps behind me but I didn’t bother checking who they belonged to.

How dare they even suggest it. I may have been their prisoner, but forcing me to…to go back there was cruel. All it would do is bring up old memories, _bad_ memories, of my time spent there. I may have had a golden childhood, but it all was spoiled by my teen years spent locked in the closet by my parents.

After the particle accelerator exploded, I had nowhere else to turn to. The screaming in my ears wouldn’t stop, I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t go crawling back to Star Labs, Wells would have had me arrested. I called them more times than I care to think about, and I got their assistant once. She told me that she would “inform them of my call”, and I never heard back from them.

Now I was supposed to _help_ them?

“Hartley, I…”

I whipped around, still fuming from even the idea of it. Barry was standing in the doorway, shuffling awkwardly. “If you’ve got something to say, then say it,” I snapped.

“I was just…wondering if you need anything,” he lied. I snorted.

“Sure. A shot of Gin, my antibiotics and a way the hell out of here,” I fired. Barry flinched, surprised to see me break like this. I didn’t care; no, I couldn’t care. After him having the audacity to ask this, he could go straight to Hell.

“We don’t need you to do much, Hartley,” he said. “Just to find out what they’re after, and talk to your parents for us.”

Whoa whoa, what was that last part?

“They don’t accept my calls,” I deflected.

“Not over the phone where it can be traced. I was going to take you to their house,” he explained. I felt my eyes lit up, and a grin threatened to creep across my face. I suppressed it from Barry.

“And what do I get out of this?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “Do I get to leave?”

“You know I can’t do that, Hartley,” he said. I knew that, of course. I was a prisoner, and that wasn’t going to change. But that’s not what I wanted, anyway.

Well, I _did_ want that. But what I wanted more was to mess with Barry.

“So I get to name my price, but that’s off the table?” I asked. Barry shrugged, and I smiled. “Fine. I want you to take me to dinner.”

Barry was taken aback by that. I heard a snort from the other room, and I knew that Caitlin was listening. I ignored her. “W-What?” Barry stuttered.

“You heard me. The two of us, dinner. I’m talking nice suits, candles, the whole nine yards,” I said smugly. I was getting off watching Barry’s face; surprise was a good look on him, especially when his jaw had completely unhinged due to it.

Barry didn’t know what to say, but I knew I’d already won. He wasn’t in a position to say no, after all. And what harm could one measly dinner do?

He stuttered on his words, hesitating. “…fine,” he said. “One dinner. Then you’ll help?”

“Sure. But once I’ve finished talking to my parents, I need a few minutes for a more…personal conversation,” I smiled. Barry nodded, not seeing the harm in that. There wasn’t some complicated plan behind that; I was going to have a nice chat, that was all. “For now, get me a laptop with the files that were taken from the company’s servers. I’ll figure out what Snart is after.”

Barry did his thing and vanished for only seconds before returning. He slid the laptop onto the empty space beside me, and I lifted it onto my lap.

I scrolled through the pages for half an hour or so. None of the information seemed truly worthwhile; some blueprints for rudimentary medical tech, some floor layouts for an expansion they were planning before I even left. One that caught my eye was a flawed formula for an experimental diabetes treatment, but that didn’t seem like the kind of thing someone like Snart would go after.

“None of this seems like…oh, hold on,” I corrected myself. The next file was a doozy; vaults kept under the building that only a select few were allowed to know about.

“These vaults are kept under the main building of Rathaway Industries,” I explained, turning the laptop to face Barry. “Rumors had circulated about them for years, but my family always denied their existence. There’s millions stored in there.”

“Why don’t you—they,” he corrected. “I don’t know, use a bank?”

“The money down there is old. My grandfather, who started the company, lived through the Great Depression. He didn’t trust banks with a quarter, much less a few million,” I explained. “By the time my parents took the mantle, they already had enough in their own accounts to keep the company afloat that moving it all to banks to deposit was more trouble than it was worth. So it just stayed there.”

“That is the best problem to have,” Barry sighed. I forgot that Barry came from humble beginnings; saying it as passively as I had must have sounded pretentious.

“So he’s got the blueprints to the building, the contents of the safe, and what the safe is made out of so he can get inside,” I mused, chewing on my thumb. I felt Barry’s eyes on me but I ignored him, racking my brain. “With his weapons, we won’t have any problem getting past security. Getting the vault open will take time, but he can do it. My parents need to be informed that he’s coming, and we need to tell the police.”

“We can’t. He’ll…” Barry paused. What was it they were keeping secret from me? Whatever it was, I didn’t like it. “He can’t be arrested. We need to sabotage this before he can attack.”

“Hmm…” I mused. “I have an idea, but it’ll take time. I need a better computer. For now, I’m going to get some rest. Tonight, you’ll take me to my old home.”

Barry nodded. Caitlin, done eavesdropping I suppose, entered from behind Barry with a bottle of pills and a cup of water. She handed them to me and I was grinning to myself. Everything, in some weird, strange, bizarre happenstance, had worked itself out. Sure, I was still a prisoner, but more things were coming into play.

…

Everything was…muddled. It felt like I was back on morphine, but I didn’t feel light. In fact my entire body felt like lead, and my feet were rooted in place.

I looked around me. Tiny details were blurred, but I knew where I was; my home. I’d been nervous all day, running over this scenario in my head a hundred times, a thousand. Nothing could go wrong, it had to go off without a hitch. I knew about my parents’ beliefs, but this was different. I was their son, right? It would be fine.

Then my mother walked in the door, followed by my father. They were at a fundraising event; normally the kind of thing they’d force me to attend alongside them, but my schoolwork had taken priority and they allowed me to stay home. In truth I had neglected it, swearing to finish it later. I could hardly think clearly, I couldn’t let this stay secret any longer.

So I said it to them; they stopped, still in the doorway. I couldn’t put it off any longer; the elaborate plan I had set up to make it go perfectly tossed aside entirely. It was never going to go according to plan anyway.

Then there was a lot of yelling, crying, screaming. A glass broke against the wall, its contents spilling onto the floor. I didn’t know who was crying; me, or my mother. Certainly not my father, who was screaming so loud his face had gone red. You’ll burn in Hell, you’re a disgrace. You faggot.

_I won’t have a gay son._

I awoke in a sweat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your parents are problematic; Hartley Rathaway. This ended up getting a little heavier than I meant it to, but it had to happen. I love doing awful things to Hartley, it's a sickness :( Also thanks to my friend Andrew for the dinner idea.
> 
> So holy shit this already has over a thousand hits? Ridiculous! I guess people actually DO ship this haha. I appreciate all the support that I've been given so far, it really makes me all warm and fuzzy!
> 
> Anyway, assuming you didn't cry/scream in frustration, be sure to leave Kudos and Comments below! I love you all, see you next time!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is later than I meant it to be, but it's here! There's an update at the end of the chapter, so make sure to keep an eye out. For now, enjoy!

Barry was the first to see me in that state. I was shaking, sweaty, tears drying on my face. I might have been yelling in my sleep but I doubted it, someone would have woken me up long before this. I wiped my face off with my hand, trying to calm my breathing. I hadn’t had a panic attack like that in ages. Thinking about my family so much must have triggered something.

“Hartley, are you alright?” he asked. I was hunched over, my head swimming from having just woken up. Barry’s hand was on my back, rubbing smooth circles that was only barely helping. I leaned into him for only a second by accident, then straightened myself before he could think about it.

“I’m fine,” I lied. Barry didn’t believe me, of course, but I didn’t bother looking up to see his face. “What time is it?”

He hesitated before answering. “Almost ten, you fell asleep. Everyone else has gone home,” he said. “We can still go to your parents’ if you want to, but…”

Then it was my turn to hesitate. After the dream I’d just had, I felt like I needed closure on all of…that. “No. I want to go. I…” I didn’t say that I _needed_ to see them, even though I did. Barry seemed to understand and nodded. He vanished, running off to who knows where. By the time I stood up, Barry had brought me a change of clothes; my own clothes, in fact, the ones I had worn when I was captured. They’d been cleaned and pressed, and were still warm to the touch. Did he just press these? I didn’t ask.

It felt good to be back in uniform, and I smiled a little. Now if only I had the gloves to finish the look, but that was a task for a later date.

I nodded to Barry, and he grabbed my shoulder tight. Wind rushed past my face and I felt my stomach heave. It only took a few seconds for Barry to run us to the estate, but by the time we arrived my hair was windswept beyond imagining.

I looked up at the house; I didn’t remember it too well, I’d only lived there a few months before the ‘incident’, as its construction had only recently been completed. I could still find my way around, surely, but it wasn’t like I could do it blindfolded.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” Barry said. “You’re going to go to the front door and get inside. I’ll talk to you through your hearing aids,” Barry said. I hadn’t realized there was even a channel going through them, but Barry pushed a button on a remote and I heard the frequency. 1900 Megahertz, just like his suit.

“And if they slam the door in my face?” I asked, honestly expecting that. Barry shrugged and gave me that “idk you do you” look that he loved to give. I groaned and pulled up my hood, and Barry put on his mask. “Let’s go.”

Barry disappeared, probably looking on from a distance. I walked up slowly, hands starting to sweat a little. I felt my heart speed up, skin tingle; I hadn’t been back here in so long, and I wasn’t sure if I was looking forward to this or not.

My hand hovered over the door for a moment, still shaking. I tried to knock but my hand wouldn’t strike the wood. I swallowed.

“Piper, you okay?” Barry asked over the channel. What, was that a codename now? Weird.

“I’m fine, I just…” I paused. I swallowed again and took a deep breath. “No, I can do this. Breathe, Hartley.”

I knocked on the door. At this time, my parents should be the only ones home.

“Who is it?” Mother yelled. I didn’t answer back; she knew my voice. Not that I felt particularly able to talk, anyway, my throat clenched up as soon as I heard her.

When I didn’t answer, I heard the lock undo. She never was a forward thinker, I thought to myself, which is probably why she left most of the business decisions to my father. Opening the door like this was hardly safe. I pulled my hood down a little over my face.

The door opened and I dropped my head a little so she couldn’t see my face. “Who are you?” she asked. The chain was keeping the door mostly closed.

I made my voice deeper. “I’m here on behalf of The Flash. It’s about the files taken from Rathaway Industries,” I explained. I cringed to myself; was changing my voice really good enough? She probably saw right through me.

“Oh. Uh, yes, come in.”

_Wow._

She shut the door and undid the chain. I removed my hood and pushed up my glasses, ignoring the sweat in my eyes. Barry said something comforting that I tuned out entirely, overshadowed by the sound of my own heartbeat.

As soon as she saw my face she tried to shut the door, but I stopped it and stepped inside. She backed up and yelled for my dad. “Osgood!” she yelled. I sighed inwardly at the sound of it. What an awful name.

He climbed down the stairs in a rush, pausing halfway when he saw me. His eyes hardened and he hurried the rest of the way down. “What the Hell are you doing here?” he asked, already angry. I smirked at him.

“For now, helping you,” I sneered. “We’ll ignore the pleasantries since neither of us have any to exchange. Believe it or not, I’m here on behalf of The Flash.”

Their eyes rolled in unison. I sighed. “Flash, mind making an ever-so-brief appearance?” I asked over the channel. Barry didn’t respond, but the door behind me flew open. He ran in circles around my parents and they both screamed. A painting fell off the wall and curtains flew open. Then he sprinted out the door again, and it slammed behind him. I smiled. “Now, shall we begin our discussions?”

I walked past them both, urging them to follow me to the living room. They were unsure at first but I didn’t bother looking back; I knew they would follow. And they did.

“You should know that calling the police would be useless,” I added. “The Flash would have me out of here in seconds, long before they would ever arrive.”

“Where have you been, Hartley?” my mother squawked. “Running around with…with superheroes?”

I scoffed. “Hardly. I’m being kept prisoner by one. Tried killing a few people, tossed a few cars. Even attacked the main building of Rathaway Industries.”

“What? That was you?!” Father roared, and I heard him stepping towards me. I turned and put my hand on his chest as he approached. He stumbled back slightly; he was bigger than me, but he knew who was backing me up.

“You liked that? I’m glad. Hope the windows were expensive,” I sneered. “I could’ve blown the entire building sky high, so count yourselves lucky.” Father was grumbling to himself, which I ignored. “But we’ll get to that. For now, I’d like to get down to business.”

I explained to them what I had found among the files. That Snart and his friends planned to break into the underground safe, rob them blind. It wouldn’t affect Rathaway Industries all that much, but my parents were greedy people. They wanted their money exactly where it was; a rainy day fund.

“So what should we do?” Mother asked quietly.

“For now, simply up the security but do not contact the police. Snart has The Flash in an…interesting position, I’m told,” I paused. Barry said nothing over the channel, so I pressed on. “I don’t know the details. But he can’t be arrested, and The Flash cannot take him out personally. That being said, he still needs to be stopped.”

“So what’s the plan?” Father asked, arms folded over his chest.

“The idea is for me to hack into his contingency plan to do…whatever it is to The Flash. Take away his power, and then The Flash can do as he likes with him,” I explained. Barry came over the headset.

“ _Hey, that’s actually pretty smart,_ ” he complimented.

“Don’t sound so surprised, Flash,” I teased. My parents looked confused, but I ignored them. “Anyway, that’s all I had to say about that. Now, let’s talk about us…”

Father immediately tuned out, I could see it on his face. He couldn’t throw me out; The Flash could do anything, after all. Mother looked uncomfortable, but at least she was listening.

“When the Star Labs Particle Accelerator exploded, I’d already been on my own for months,” I began, my voice trembling. “I was changed when it did. I could hear…everything. What gave The Flash his powers did something to me, too.”

“What?” Mother gawked.

“I screamed, I cried. I thought my head was going to split in two. Whispers became screams, screams became deafening.” I swallowed, trying to compose myself. It wasn’t working. “I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was dying. So I called my family. And you know what I got?”

They shifted in their seats. “I got a fucking answering machine, or your assistant that told me that she would ‘inform you of my call’. I bet she did, too, but you didn’t care. Did you?”

“Hartley, we—”

“ _Did you?!_ ” I interrupted. I was nearly crying now, tears threatened to spill but I choked them back down. My parents exchanged a glance but offered no answer, which was answer enough. “No, you didn’t. You didn’t know where I was. I could’ve died in the explosion; I still worked at the Labs for all you knew. But you didn’t bother calling. Because what?”

“Hartley, you know how we feel about your…lifestyle,” Mother forced out. “We want nothing to do with it.”

“Oh, I know all about it,” I seethed, and she flinched. “I know all about your _opinion_ of me. You think I’m an abomination, that I’m sick. Guess what?! I fucking _am_ sick!”

“That’s enough, Hartley, you’re acting like a fool!” Father snapped. I stood angrily and he stood to match me; he was clawing at his pants leg, trying not to hit me, I could feel it. “Get out, Hartley. Now.”

“Fucking make me!” I shot back. “You threaten me, you kick me out, strip me of my birthright. And for what? Because I’m fucking _gay_? Who cares? I’m not fucking either of you, it’s none of your business!”

“ _Hartley, enough!_ ” Mother screamed. She was standing now too, her hands on her hips. She was scolding me, like I was a child throwing a tantrum. Maybe I was, but I didn’t fucking care. They needed to hear all of this.

“How does it feel, knowing that you disowned your only son like this?” I asked, getting in my father’s face. “No legacy to leave all that money? It’ll be a shame to see it all go to waste. Maybe I’ll just let Snart…take it. What do you think about that?”

Father’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare. The Flash is making you do it.”

I shrugged. “I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m already his prisoner,” I explained. “Or, maybe, I’ll steal it myself. To pay for my hospital pills. I had my appendix removed a couple of days ago, did I mention that? Do you even care?!”

“No,” Dad answered, and I froze in my place. He and Mom exchanged a glance and then turned to me together. “We think you should go.”

I swallowed, trying not to yell again. I knew Barry was listening; he was probably thinking that he shouldn’t be, but he was. I didn’t know what else there was to say. “Flash. Can you…can you get me out of here? Please.”

Barry appeared behind me, his mask on. My parents flinched, eyes wide at him. I watched as they looked in awe. “Goodbye, Mom. Dad.” They didn’t react before I turned around and Barry’s arms fell around me. We vanished, leaving my family behind us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EMOTIONS.
> 
> So my plan is to update twice a week; once on Tuesday, once on Friday. I meant for this to be up on Tuesday but I ran a little late, so that'll be the schedule from now on. I'm hoping that keeping a regular schedule will make me keep up with the writing until the story is done, and I'll do my best. Hope you liked the chapter! Remember to leave Kudos and Comments, I really appreciate them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, it's Friday! This regular posting schedule might actually work out. We're back in Barry's POV this chapter, so enjoy it!

Hartley was barely talking.

It was…surprisingly difficult to see him like that. I’d only heard his voice shake twice; once when he was talking to Wells the first time he was captured, then again when he was high on morphine. The second hardly counted.

His eyes were glossed over, swollen and pink. He’d been crying since we arrived a few minutes ago; silent tears, barely ever a gasp for breath or a sob. His arms curled around his stomach, but it was a comfort thing, not about his operation. I don’t know if he could feel anything.

“Do you…need anything?” I offered. He was still standing where I dropped him off, a few feet from his bed. He didn’t respond, just started walking towards the bed slowly. He sat down and slowly unlaced his boots, fingers barely grasping the strings.

Think, Barry! What did Hartley like?

I had an idea and ran to the kitchen to whip something together. Unfortunately my powers didn't speed up the process of reheating chicken, so I had time to throw some greens and bread on the plate as well before running back.

Hartley was still working on his first boot when I sat the plate down, and I waited for him to finish. A couple of minutes later he finished, then he started on the other. I sighed and undid it for him in a second, then ran to grab him some pajamas. I didn’t know what else to get, so it ended up being another of my Star Lab sweatshirts and a pair of shorts.

I set them on the bed and moved Hartley’s boots across the room. He didn’t protest my help, which is how I knew something was _really_ wrong.

“Hartley, eat,” I urged, inching the plate towards him. He shook his head and began shrugging off his shirt. It took a second and he hesitated, his scar still bothering him. He dropped it on the ground next to his bed.

Hartley had moles on his face, and they traveled all over apparently. I saw at least six on his chest, and his shoulders were spotted with moles and freckles alike. I didn’t know he even _had_ freckles, but I guess they just weren’t on his face.

“Why do you care?” Hartley scoffed quietly, frowning at the food. He nudged the piece of bread with his finger, not in any hurry to eat it.

I didn’t think before I answered. “Because you’re supposed to be strong, confident.” I paused, looking him over. “The Pied Piper.”

Hartley snorted. “As if I deserve the title any longer. Look at me.”

“I see someone who…just conquered something very difficult,” I said. Hartley looked up at me. “Hartley what you just did…I don’t know if I could have ever done it.”

“When would you need to?” he snorted, and my skin crawled. “You’re smart, handsome, The Flash. Everything to be proud of. Mom and Dad must be proud of you.”

My filter had shut off entirely. “My mom’s dead,” I blurted out, and he flinched. “And my dad is in prison. They think he killed her, but…”

Silence hung over us, suffocating us. Hartley spoke up first. “…I’m sorry, I didn’t know,” he apologized. I sat on the bed next to him.

“It’s not like it’s your fault,” I said. I wasn’t sure how to approach the sensitive topic. “That you’re…you know. I guess my case is sort of similar. My dad…he knows I’m The Flash. He was so proud. I thought he would call me stupid and reckless.”

“He’d have been right,” Hartley chimed in, and I chuckled. “What did his face look like when he found out?”

“He knew before I told him. I wasn’t exactly subtle,” I said. “Seeing me in the suit after saving him, his face…he just lit up. Like it was a gift.”

Hartley smiled at nothing. “That sounds nice.” He leaned on me, forehead to my shoulder. I didn’t know what to say so I just let it happen. He was small; not scrawny, I could feel his weight against me. He just looked small in that moment.

We stayed like that for a long time, longer than I cared to measure. Hartley got tired, eyes drooping and his head slipping off my shoulder. I tried to leave, to let him get some sleep, but he grabbed my arm as tight as he could.

I leaned Hartley back on the bed and he guided me down. He stayed close; hand on my arm, a foot hooked around my leg. His head was halfway on my shoulder and halfway in the crook of my neck.

It was…awkward. I’d never had this much intimacy with someone. It wasn’t sexual, even romantic. It was someone in pain who needed affection, physical contact. I’m glad nobody was at Star Labs this late at night. Out of context, this could look very…off.

I kept looking back down at Hartley when I wasn’t staring into space. Each time his eyes had closed a little more. It was a while before they shut entirely, and his breathing evened out.

I couldn’t get out without waking him.

He was practically latched on to me, though his grip had loosened while he slept. His leg was laid over mine and no amount of speed would make this go smoothly.

It’s not that I was _opposed_ to the idea of staying here with Hartley. It’s that I felt my eyes getting heavy and Hartley’s rhythmic breathing was not helping. If I fell asleep, Caitlin would be the one to find us like this and I did _not_ feel like explaining this.

Okay, new plan. I carefully wiggled my phone out of my pocket and set an alarm for fiteen minutes before Caitlin would arrive. I set it on vibrate so that it wouldn’t wake Hartley and went to sleep.

…

If Hartley and I were close last night, we were practically spooning now.

I blinked sleep out of my eyes and felt around for my phone. Where the hell was it? I moved a little and I felt it poke at my back. How did that happen?

Hartley stirred. His arm was thrown over my stomach, head buried in my neck. His leg was intertwined with mine and somehow my arm had ended up under him, curled around his waist.

“You awake?” he murmured into my shoulder. I looked down to him; he still wasn’t wearing a shirt and had never changed into the shorts I brought him. He sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes.

“What time is it?” I asked, still reaching for my phone.

“No clue. Your alarm went off a while ago, but it shut off on its own,” Hartley explained.

“Shit,” I groaned. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because I was tired. Also because it was on your chest and when it started vibrating, so did you,” he yawned. “At a guess, you both vibrated at the same frequency and it fell through your chest.”

I blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah. You can imagine my surprise,” he chuckled. “Anyway, we should probably get up.”

My phone had died, which I guess explained why it shut off. I stood and stretched my arms above my head while Hartley changed. I caught myself looking; he _did_ have a lot of moles. He was also more muscular than I’d realized; not ripped, and no lightning abs, but he was solid. He caught me looking and I averted my eyes.

“It’s okay if you look, I don’t care. After all, we’ve shared a bed,” he said casually.

I cringed. “Don’t…say it like that,” I urged. Hartley seemed amused but didn’t press further. “I’m gonna go talk to Caitlin. I’m sure she’s waiting to make jokes.”

Hartley snickered and I ran to the main room.

Caitlin was waiting, sipping loudly through a straw. She raised an eyebrow expectantly and tapped her foot rhythmically. I sighed. “Go ahead.”

“With what?” she asked, feigning innocence while trying _so hard_ not to laugh. “I’d say I’ve seen the security footage, but I’m afraid of what I might find!” She lost it last second, laughing while I groaned inwardly.

“It’s not like that, Caitlin. Nothing happened, we aren’t…” I paused. We weren’t really _anything_. “Together.”

“Together,” she echoed. “I know you aren’t, because that’d be stupid!” I flinched. “If you want to date a boy, I’ll set you up with my cousin.”

I interrupted with a subtle “not the case…”

Caitlin pressed on. “But _Hartley Rathaway_?” she scoffed. “He’s dangerous, Barry. He may be…different now.” She paused to take a breath. “But it doesn’t change the fact that he manipulates people. That’s his whole thing.”

“Caitlin, relax!” I shouted. She flinched and I immediately apologized. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have shouted. But Hartley and I aren’t…you know.”

Caitlin nodded slowly. “I believe you. Just…be careful.”

“Always.”

I’m glad that was fixed; Caitlin’s imagination didn’t need to wander any further than it already had. Clapping rang out from my left and our heads shot that way.

“Well, I’m glad that’s sorted out.” Hartley rounded the corner, hands behind his back. Caitlin and I locked eyes, embarrassed. “Remember the whole super-hearing thing?”

Oh. Right. I had, actually, forgotten about that. Then he’d just heard that entire conversation, and I felt awful. Talking behind his back wasn’t what I meant to do, it just sort of happened that way. The last thing I wanted was to make him feel bad, especially after the night he’d just had. Outright rejection wasn’t what he needed, if that’s what had even gone on.

Hartley didn’t seem at all bothered by what had been said and strolled to the center of the room. “When do we think Snart is going to make his move?” he asked. Caitlin and I were both taken back by the abrupt change in topic, but we rolled with it.

“It could be any time. We’re basically on standby until he does,” I explained. “Snart doesn’t like to waste time, though.”

“Agreed,” Hartley concluded. “Is there a computer I can use?” I nodded and gestured to the computer next to Caitlin. “Excellent.”

“So what _is_ our plan, exactly?” Caitlin asked.

“Once Snart begins his heist, I’m going to hack into his server and disable this mystery program,” Hartley explained.

“Why not just do it now?” I offered.

“Do you know where Snart is?” he asked. Caitlin and I shook our heads in unison. “If I disable it now, he’ll either reinstate it under another IP or come up with another Plan B. We need to catch him off guard.”

“You really think that’ll work?” I asked. It seemed too simple for one of Hartley’s plans. He was all about moves and countermoves, chess with Doctor Wells. This was straightforward, it wasn’t like him.

“Remove all other options until they’re only left with a single path. It’s how you caught me.” His eyes were downcast for a single second and I exchanged another nervous glance with Caitlin. He picked his eyes back up, shaking it off. “I suggest we get something to eat.”

“Breakfast does sound nice,” Caitlin added, desperate to change the subject. I remembered what Hartley had once said to her (after I’d translated it after rewatching the tapes and typing it into Google); _You don’t like emotions. They’re messy._

“Can we assume you’ll be cooking, Chef Barry?” Hartley asked and I blinked. He certainly seemed to be doing better; he was talking more, even smiling. I liked him better this way. He looked better with a smile on his face.

Whoa, where did that come from?

“Sure,” I agreed, despite the rogue thought. I ran off to cook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FLUUUUUUUFF. I've been waiting so long to write some you have no idea.
> 
> So yeah, finally a little development in this and the Snart thing is quickly coming to a close. It's not going to be a super long plot point, but it does introduce a huge one in the next couple of chapters. Remember to leave Kudos and Comments, I love them all :) See you Tuesday!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blurb. Let's get right to it!

Barry sprinted off. If my memory of last night was accurate (which it may or may not have been), we had a good couple of minutes before he would return.

“Still not my biggest fan, Miss Snow?” I suggested. Surprisingly, she wasn’t at all startled by my question. She’d changed since the accelerator blew, too.

“Can you blame me?” she asked, and I looked her way. “What reason have you given us to trust you?”

“I’m helping you, aren’t I?” I scoffed. She didn’t respond for a good few seconds.

“What do you want with Barry?” she asked. “What do you have to gain through…whatever this is?”

I didn’t get time to respond before Barry returned, for which I was thankful. I didn’t know how to respond, anyhow.

While we dined, Caitlin and Barry chattered on about anything and everything while we dined on our pancakes. They were delicious, and I was content to sit and listen to them talk. Barry told a story about his accidental double-date at a bowling alley with his (now) ex-girlfriend and his crush. It was amusing.

I mostly thought about last night. Talking to my parents was a trip, more troubling than I had anticipated. Coming home was hard. They didn’t say anything I didn’t expect, anything I hadn’t told myself a thousand times over. Hearing it aloud was much more difficult than hearing it in my own head.

Then back at the Lab, Barry was all I had. I felt a tiny bit bad for putting him in that position; it certainly created a fuss with Caitlin. But it all felt autonomous; I don’t remember why he stayed. Did I ask him to? Did he do it on his own? All I knew is that I didn’t want to be alone, and I was thankful that he didn’t make me.

I’m glad Barry was there.

“Hey, Hartley, you feeling okay?” Caitlin asked and I flinched. “You look tired. You’re taking your medicine, right?”

“Not yet this morning,” I answered. They appeared next to my tray and Barry smiled. I hadn’t even seen him go.

I thanked him silently and took the pills. Caitlin’s eyes were on me and I felt them burn holes through my chest. I ignored her as best I could, tried to play it off as nothing; the last thing I wanted was her pity or concern.

Something beeped on the computer and Caitlin pressed a few buttons. Doors unclicked and Cisco and Harrison entered together.

“Barry, Caitlin,” Harrison greeted. His eyes gravitated towards me. “Hartley. I assume you’re feeling better?”

“Much,” I said flatly. Cisco sat down without so much as glancing at me, starting a quiet conversation with Caitlin that I tuned out.

“Glad to hear it,” He smiled, and I felt the hairs on my neck stand up. “What’s the status on Snart?”

Barry explained our plan, which Harrison agreed with in full. They talked a bit about strategy, reminding Barry to get their guns before anything.

“We’ll know as soon as he’s attacking,” Harrison mused aloud. “Snart is many things, but subtle is not one of them.”

Barry’s phone rang in his pocket and he pulled it to his ear. “Eddie, what’s up?”

“ _Snart is moving on Rathaway_ ,” this ‘Eddie’ began. “ _You wanna come…do your thing_?”

“On my way.” Barry hung up and silence fell on the room.

I smiled. “I guess I’ll get started.”

Barry nodded. Lightning ran through him as he suited up and sprinted out the door. Harrison, Cisco, and Caitlin took their places at the main terminal and I moved to the computer Barry had offered me.

Finding the IP Address took seconds. His firewall was advanced but far from impenetrable, so it’d only be a few moments to get in. The channel in my hearing aids opened up.

“How’s it going Hartley?” Barry shouted over the wind. I guess he was still running.

“Just fine. I’ll only need a couple of minutes,” I said confidently.

Harrison intervened, always needing his two cents in. “Barry listen to me, you cannot take Snart until Hartley has finished. You cannot risk this in case Hartley fails.” I frowned at the computer.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Harrison,” I said. Nobody responded but footsteps were approaching me.

“Give him space,” Harrison urged. Whoever it was they stepped back behind the terminal. I sighed to myself while I continued working on the firewall, dodging traps left in the code. I hated when people hovered over me while I was working, and I appreciated Wells remembering that much about me.

A few more seconds and I was through. I smiled to myself but didn’t announce it. Let’s see what they’d been keeping secret.

That was one file open; a picture of Barry and a countdown clock, as well as five bold words at the bottom.

**BARRY ALLEN IS THE FLASH**

He knew Barry’s identity. This was my chance!

I tried to copy the file, to bring it to a new IP that I could control. Storing it in an old Rathaway file system should be child’s play. I hadn’t expected a failsafe to trigger when I did. The countdown dropped to minutes, and I swore. Exposing him would earn me nothing, and I had to delete the file. It vanished off the screen.

Damn it! If I had that file, I could have used it to get out of Star Labs. Snart was a genius for coming up with that, not that it mattered now.

Whatever. I could come up with something else to get out later.

“Done. Barry, get him,” I ordered. Barry must have left his channel open because I heard him fighting. A couple of yells, punching noises, glass breaking and metal being slammed on the ground.

Glances were exchanged around the room as the channel went dead, and Caitlin just shrugged.

The door opened and a woman appeared, stumbling. She looked up at the group and swore loudly. Barry ran in again and dropped off a bald guy with goggles on. Then another appeared in a huge puffy coat.

“You’re making a mistake, Flash,” the guy in the hood said, presumably Snart. He removed it as well as his goggles. “Or should I call you Barry?”

“Doesn’t matter what you call me,” Barry smiled, stopping in the middle of the room. He removed his mask and smirked. Fucking _smirked_ , the cheeky bastard. That was a look I wouldn’t be forgetting anytime soon.

“Did you forget about our deal?” the woman asked. “Put us away, and your secret is out!”

Barry raised an eyebrow at me, and I stood slowly. I guess that was my cue. “Whatever deal you once had is now irrelevant. Your program to expose The Flash has been destroyed.” Snart was fuming and I smiled, approaching him slowly. My stomach was hurting this morning and I rubbed the sore spot over my scar. “Hartley Rathaway,” I greeted. “A pleasure.”

“The Piper,” he concluded. I nodded. “We were looking for you, you know. Wanted you to join up, could’ve been useful. Still could.”

I snorted. “I’m flattered, truly. But no thanks,” I decided. “Let’s be done with this, shall we Barry?”

Barry nodded and the three each disappeared, one at a time. I sighed and sat down. “You okay, Hartley?” Harrison asked and I waved him off.

“Painkillers haven’t kicked in yet, I’m fine,” I dismissed. I tasted something weird at the back of my throat. Why was _he_ so worried? It certainly wasn’t like him, but it sure was unsettling.

Barry reappeared and we exchanged a glance. I stood slowly and retreated towards the infirmary, silently urging Barry to follow. Caitlin cleared her throat but I ignored her, any by the sounds of Barry’s footsteps, so did he.

“Now…” I paused. We’d arrived at the infirmary and Barry shut the door behind him. “About that dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huehuehuehuehue. We're getting to the good stuff now, folks. Hartley's such a little shit.
> 
> Remember to leave Kudos and Comments! Love you all, thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of notes about the newest episode (SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP ON THE FLASH)
> 
> 1: Holy shit we GOT A HARTLEY REFERENCE  
> 2: I'm kind of shipping Laurel and Cisco now like ??? omg  
> 3: It's about to get so real holy shit
> 
> Alright, I had to vent about last Tuesday lol. This chapter is from Barry's point of view, so let's have that date, shall we?

Hartley was going to be the death of me.

It’d been a few days since Snart was locked up, and Hartley had insisted on the dinner. I agreed begrudgingly; how could I say no after I’d already made the promise? It was just as well that I went through with it, though. He’d been through a lot, and one dinner couldn’t hurt.

I slid on my clothes for the ‘date’, as he insisted that I refer to tonight as. A blue button up and a pair of khakis, along with a pair of brown shoes that I borrowed from Joe. It was casual, simple. I didn’t know what Hartley was planning to wear; he’d had me run to his old apartment that still somehow hadn’t been evicted and bring him his clothes. He’d pick out what he will.

I climbed down the stairs. I heard voices in the living room but I could hardly pay attention over the thoughts of what the _fuck_ my life had become. I thought dressing up in a leather suit and beating the crap out of supervillains was strange, but now I was taking one out on what was essentially a date after he helped me catch three other ones. It was too much to think about.

“What are you getting all dressed up for?” Iris asked. I yelped at the foot of the stairs and looked into the living room. She, Eddie and Joe were sitting around the table, sipping on coffee and now staring at me in awe. Was it really so surprising for me to wear a button-up when I wasn’t at work?

“Hey Barry,” Eddie greeted awkwardly and I resisted the urge to eat glass.

“Hey,” I replied. “And I’m not dressed up.” It was a blatant lie.

“You’re not wearing jeans and a T-shirt,” she deduced. “And it’s not your regular work outfit.”

Ugh. I hated when she was more clever than me. What could I do but keep lying?

“Okay, yeah,” I sighed and Iris’ face lit up. Eddie and Joe shot each other a look and then one to me, which I ignored.

“So? Who is she?”

 _He_ , I corrected silently, but didn’t dare say it aloud in case they got the wrong idea.

“You, uh, don’t know her,” I said. That much, at least, was true. None of them had met Hartley personally as far as I was aware.

“Well, good luck!” Iris cheered. “Make sure she calls you.”

_Sigh._

I ran to Star Labs as soon as I was out the door. Everyone had already gone home today, so I unlocked the main doors and went inside.

Hartley was ready to go. It’d been a few days since his operation, so he was walking around mostly normal now. He was dressed simply but elegantly; a red button-up and a black tie with slacks. I was a little underdressed next to him, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Here I was trying to match you. I figured you’d wear red,” Hartley smirked. “Good evening, Barry.” I sighed inwardly; this was going to be an experience. “So, what’s on the menu tonight?”

I shrugged. I hadn’t thought much about our actual plans, to be honest. “You mean you don’t have a reservation?”

I shook my head. “Forgot. Sorry.”

He sighed and pulled his tie loose, then over his head. “Won’t be needing this, then,” he muttered. “Okay, new plan. Let’s go to 29th Street. I know a place.”

We were on our way. I offered to just run us over, but Hartley insisted we walk. It wasn’t far, only a few blocks. He was walking with a spring in his step and a hardly-suppressed grin, neither of which I’d seen him with before. It was funny; someone like him didn’t get giddy like this easily.

“What’s up with you?” I chuckled, and Hartley looked up from my side.

“Enjoying the fresh air,” he began. “And I haven’t had a date in ages. Since before the accelerator blew. About the time I designed your suit, actually.”

I blinked. “Cisco designed my suit.”

“I made the original designs. I had a boyfriend, Chip, who was a firefighter. Before I could make it, though, he…” Hartley trailed off. “Never mind. But Harrison fired me before I could ever begin its creation. Cisco must have picked it up later.

“I never knew that,” I admitted.

Hartley smiled to himself, a little sadly. “I’m not surprised Cisco never brought it up. He’d hate to admit anything even remotely positive about me. We…never got along.”

“Cisco said you were a dick to him when he started at Star Labs.”

Hartley shrugged. “Fair enough, I guess. I have high expectations, and if they are not met, I disregard you. Cisco didn’t impress me at the time. He is certainly capable, though, I see that now, though I doubt it matters much to him what I think.”

I shook my head. “You’re wrong. I think he’d like to hear that from you. Maybe you could actually look at each other without getting pissy.” Hartley chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully but said nothing. He stopped walking and looked up at the building we stood beneath.

“The…‘Thai Palace’?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. This hardly seemed like the kind of place Hartley would enjoy but his eyes had lit up. He grabbed my wrist and dragged me through the door.

The woman at the podium recognized Hartley and greeted him as an old friend. The two exchanged a few words in a language I couldn't understand. Hartley said something and gestured to me and her eyes flickered over, sizing me up. I waved awkwardly and she giggled and said something else to Hartley before grabbing a couple of menus. She took us to our table, one of the small ones with only two seats that couples normally sat at.

Which is probably what we looked like. Did Hartley tell her that? I decided to ask without being too blunt. “What was that about?”

“Nothing important,” He dismissed. “Anyway, speaking of high expectations, I’m surprised at you, Barry Allen.”

“How so?”

“Tonight. You could’ve bailed and I’d have had no say in the matter,” he began. The girl returned to ask for our drinks, and Hartley ordered for both of us in Thai.

I’d been thinking about that myself, so I decided to answer honestly. “I made you a promise,” I said simply. “Plus you’ve had a rough time at Star Labs recently. Figured you deserve to let your hair down.”

“Like a real lady!” he laughed and I did too at the mental image of Hartley in a dress. He’d make such an ugly woman. I guess he wasn’t bad as he was, though

Damn, those rogue thoughts again. I ignored them.

The waitress returned with our drinks. Hartley had ordered a tea for me, iced with a lemon. I was surprised; it was one of my favorites. How did he know that?

“You’re interesting, Barry,” he said. He was flipping through the menu aimlessly. “Tell me. Let’s say Snart’s program triggered. What would you do?”

I hadn’t thought much about it, so I mulled over the question for a few seconds. “I guess…I’d become The Flash. Full-time, I mean. It’d be rough; they’d go after Joe, Iris, my dad, Caitlin and Cisco…”

The waitress came back and we ordered our meals. Hartley translated my order into the woman’s native tongue, which she seemed to appreciate. It was odd seeing him be so…kind.

“Fascinating. Your first thought is about your loved ones,” he mused aloud, folding his hands under his chin. “I’d imagine you’ll do anything to keep them safe.”

“Anything,” I answered immediately. He leaned back and his fingers drummed on the table rhythmically. He took a drink, swallowed, and released a soft ‘ahh’.

“So what would you say…” he began, trailing off. His smirk was unsettling. “If I told you that I hijacked Snart’s program?”

My blood ran cold.

“You didn’t.”

“I did,” Hartley mused, smiling triumphantly. I gripped at my pants leg, trying not to scream. Hartley was at it again.

“The countdown clock has been extended. Greatly, in fact, so it’ll be some time before it ever triggers. It’s been routed through several proxy servers, so even the lovely Miss Smoak will be unable to find it.”

 _Shit_ , I’d already began betting on her.

“So what do you want? Out of Star Labs?” I choked out. “Done.”

“Don’t be absurd. Where would I go? It’s not like I have any income,” he chuckled. “No, I’ve got some…different requests.”

 _More like demands_ , I thought to myself. Hartley had me wrapped around his finger now, and there was nothing I could do about it. “Such as?” I asked.

“No cell at Star Labs. We’ll convert the break room into a bedroom, and I’ll live there from now on,” he began. That seemed reasonable; at least we could still keep an eye on him.

“Second, more dinners. I enjoy our chats,” he smiled and I think my eyes rolled 360 degrees. “The third one…now that’s the kicker.”

I wasn’t excited to hear this one. His face was calculating, watching every move I made. I swallowed nervously, wishing he would just get on with it.

He smiled at the waitress as she set down our plates. Hartley smiled and took a bit, his shoulders immediately relaxing. He seemed to have forgotten I was there for a moment, and perked up a little. “My third request is that I would like to help you as The Flash.”

I choked, and I hadn’t even started on my food.

“You _what_?” I half-yelled and the restaurant’s other patrons all looked my way. I felt my ears go pink. “Do you know how _insane_ that sounds?!”

He nodded, his mouth full of Thai food. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Of course I do. But I want to study you, Barry, and I feel that this is the best way.”

“So you want to…” I lowered my voice to barely above a whisper. “ _Help me fight crime_?” He nodded again. “So you’ll need…”

“My gloves, yes. I’ll be rebuilding them at Star Labs; under your supervision, of course,” he elaborated with a grin. He was positively giddy; I guess this was the explanation behind that spring in his step on the way over here.

“How do I know you won’t try to kill me as soon as you put them on?” I fired back. I doubted Hartley had a response to that, but he leaned forward.

“I already have all the power in the world over you,” he said quietly, confidently. “Why would I bother killing you after all my hard work?”

Damn.

I sat back in my chair. What could I even say? Hartley had beaten me when I gave him too much power. He really was brilliant, and I’d underestimated him. “I’ll need to talk to the others,” I said and Hartley agreed. “Should we come up with a Plan B if they refuse?”

“No. They’ll agree because they have no choice,” he grinned.

We ate in silence after that. Well, Hartley ate, savoring the mean while I pushed mine around with a pair of chopsticks and occasionally nibbled. Getting your ass handed to you like this had a way of killing even my appetite. “It’s getting cold,” Hartley warmed.

“I know,” I replied. Something else was bothering me. “It’s just…you could have asked for anything. Why this?”

He sighed dramatically. “You’re right. I should’ve asked for a kiss, or at least a handjob.” I coughed and Hartley laughed, not bothering to contain it. I couldn’t resist the chance to one-up him, just this once.

“Maybe later.” Now _he_ was taken aback, face bright pink. We laughed together.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe. Hartley is so full of shit, I love him.
> 
> So with recent developments in The Flash, I feel like I should make a couple of things clear (SPOILERS AHEAD). I know they're about to confront Harrison about being the Reverse Flash, and I know that Hartley has alluded to him knowing about Harrison's powers already (which I found out is actually canon). The chapter in which that is addressed has already been written (I think it's chapter 13 but I haven't verified that). From here out, take everything with a grain of salt in that canon is being altered greatly to fit my gay husband Hartley into the disaster these people call lives. I was thinking about trying to stick with canon, but that would just result in me rewriting each episode with Hartley inserted somehow, which would be tedious and boring. Anyway, I thought that just needed to be said!
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter! Remember to like, comment, etc. etc. I read and love them all!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that, since on Friday I waited until really late to post the new chapter, I'd put this one up pretty early to compensate. We're back to Hartley's POV this chapter, so I hope you enjoy!

Barry was a good hero, if not a bit hard to keep up with.

After we got back to Star Labs, Barry immediately went home. In the morning, after everyone had arrived, he told them about what had transpired at our dinner. Cisco was furious, Caitlin was displeased, and Harrison didn’t say anything at all. It wasn’t until Cisco threatened to ‘make me’ give it up that he stepped in.

“No, Cisco,” he intervened. “The moment we allow ourselves to operate like that is the day we stop being heroes. Hartley has outplayed us and we must respect his demands.”

And here I thought he could call a bluff.

Playing a lie this big was dangerous. When they eventually figured it out, realized that I didn’t have this program at my disposal, they were going to be pissed. Especially Barry. This was temporary a means to survive until I could find someplace to hide.

Maybe Gotham? Wait, no, they’ve got a mask there, too. This was getting ridiculous.

Barry helped me renovate the break room, which didn’t take long at all with his powers. Then I got to work on my gloves.

Remaking them was infinitely easier in a professional laboratory. I didn’t have to use spare parts and faulty wiring (the last thing I needed was Starling City part two).

Someone was almost always in the room with me when I was working on my new gloves; usually it was Barry unless he had work or Flash business to attend to. Then usually it would be Caitlin, but if she was unavailable, Cisco would angrily step in.

I thought about what Barry had said on our way to the restaurant about apologizing to Cisco. So I swallowed my pride.

“Cisco, listen,” I began.

“Shut up,” he cut me off and I flinched.

“You’re going to like what I have to say, if you’ll listen,” I snapped and he paused, looking me over. When he said nothing else, I pressed on. “When you started here, my expectations of you were…subterranean.”

“Thanks,” scoffed Cisco. I sighed; would the guy just let me finish?

“There is a ‘but’,” I replied. “But, I’ve seen your expertise in helping Barry, which I’ve been tracking. You’ve come a long way since you began at Star Labs, and, though I hate to admit it,” I took a deep breath. “You’ve impressed me.”

He was surprised, it seemed like. He wasn’t exactly happy with me, but his endless glare had finally drawn back a bit. He looked at me with…not respect, but something along those lines. Just a little weaker.

“That’s a start,” he half-smiled, which immediately fell back into his resting bitch-face. I decided that was good enough and got back to work.

It only took four days to finish my gloves and I was ready to go into the field. I took a look at Barry’s suit; I realized that it had a defibrillator built into the chest, under the lightning symbol. Apparently it had burned out during a scuffle with this bug lady.

“You put a defibrillator in my suit?” I asked, and Cisco raised an eyebrow at me.

“I changed it a lot when it became _my_ suit,” he said, arms folded over his chest. He went over a few of the modifications he’d made from my original design. Most of them were fairly good, some unnecessary but not taking away from the design. He changed the material on the inner thighs to reduce friction which was smart, but I recommended another fabric that would work better. He agreed, surprisingly, and jotted it down on a notepad.

Barry flashed in, standing behind us. He backed up a couple of steps as if expecting a fight, but Cisco and I had become surprisingly civil. Far from friendly, but it was something.

“Don’t act like a bomb is about to go off, Jesus,” Cisco teased, and Barry relaxed when he saw that I smiled. It was good that things were going well, socially speaking. Now that I wasn’t in a cell or confined to the infirmary, it was important that I get along with Caitlin and Cisco at least. Barry wasn’t going to be an issue in that sense. As for Harrison…that’s another story. We’d stayed clear of each other thus far, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“So my gloves are done and I have a lovely new bedroom,” I began, shooting a glance at Barry. He hadn’t told the others about Demand #2 (more dinner dates), but I figured that was his own embarrassment causing it. “Now when do I get to start helping?”

“Which I’m still not onboard with, I’ll add,” Cisco chimed in. I ignored him and Barry sighed.

“I’m not a fan either, but Hartley insists,” he said.

“That I do. Now the question is…how do I keep up with The Flash?” I asked. Barry just gave me that look.

“I just figured I would be carrying you,” he shrugged. “Faster that way.”

“No. I’ll need my own transportation if you’re unavailable,” I sighed, giving him the puppy eyes.

Cisco lit up. “Hartley needs a motorcycle. One that has a sonic canon on the front.”

“Already with new ideas? Seriously?” Barry asked and his voice cracked. I chuckled and Caitlin got a good laugh as well as she entered the lab.

“It’s not a bad idea, though, Hartley having his own transportation,” she chimed in. “If he and Barry get separated, he’ll need to move. Although the canon may be a bit extreme.”

“Agreed,” I smiled. “But it’s a good idea. Oliver and the others used them in Starling City when they…” I didn’t finish my sentence. They knew what I was saying, but it was easier to pretend like it didn’t happen. Hard to remain social when they remember that I was a criminal.

“Fine. We’ll work on it,” Wells said. He rolled in and I averted my gaze; I still wasn’t ready to be all chummy with him and I never would be. “In the meantime, Barry needs to get downtown. I just heard them start averting traffic over the radio, something’s happening.”

Barry looked to me. “Want to come along?”

“Of course.”

Barry changed into his suit and I dove for my gloves. I was already dressed to go out but I tightened the laces on my boots quickly. I slipped on my gloves and Barry grabbed my shoulder.

Wind rushed me and my hood was blown off. We moved for not even a minute before it stopped and I stumbled in front of Barry, regaining my balance. I looked up and pushed my hood back on.

“So what’s happening down here anyways?” Barry asked. My channel kicked on and I locked eyes with Barry as Wells spoke.

“ _Car chase. They should be passing you any minute,_ ” he relayed. Barry gave me a look of exasperation. A car chase was no big deal to him; he could run up, grab the keys and stop the car in a second. I would be no use here.

“Wanna give it a go, Piper?” Barry offered. “I figure you’re a bit rusty. Could use a warm-up.”

“You insulting me, Flash?” I fired back. I cracked my neck and stood in the street. “Clear the room. Car’s shutting down.”

I cranked my gloves to their lowest setting; the last thing I needed was to blow the damn car up. I saw them round the corner; a bright yellow Mustang being pursued by two police cars. I shook out my wrists and fired a wave at the hood of the car. The engine burst and the hood of the car opened up, smoke pouring into the air. Tires skidded and it slid to one side, stopping about fifteen feet in front of me. Barry looked like he was about to get me out of the way, but he didn’t have to.

“Nothing to add?” I asked and Barry just shrugged. The police cars pulled up on either side of the stopped Mustang and officers poured out, pistols in hand. Barry seemed to recognize two of the officers and he swore. Their eyes were trained on me.

“Is that…?” the blond one began. The black man with the goatee raised his pistol at me and the blond followed suit.

“On the ground, now!” the black man said.

“Joe, Eddie, chill!” Barry requested. Their guns did not waver but I didn’t bother putting my hands in the air. Barry wouldn’t let them shoot, and if they did he would get me. “He’s with me.”

“You’re working with Rathaway now?” Joe asked. I guess that was fair.

Barry shrugged. “It’s a long story. Anyway, you’ve—”

Windshield of the car shattered and bullets flew through it. Joe and Eddie hit the ground and Barry immediately put himself between me and the car. His arms went around me and he ran, moving me to the other side of the car without harm. He hesitated there for a second before releasing me, but I didn’t have time to question it.

“Always the hero, Flash,” I mumbled and he smiled. I pushed him aside and approached the car. The door opened up and a man stepped out; he looked like an extra from Wrong Turn 2. His mullet was halfway to his ass and the short part in the front was singed off, black. You could count his teeth on just your hands and the idiot was trying to be gangster by holding the pistol sideways.

“Now you’re just embarrassing yourself,” I groaned. I blasted the gun out of his hand; I’d memorized the frequency of standard-issue firearms before I attacked Rathaway Industries last time. I could dismantle most guns at will.

He dropped the gun and it hit the ground in pieces. His eyes opened up and when his partner stepped out the door from the other side (who looked more or less the same, just fatter), I dismantled his weapon as well and they both stood there, caught with their pants down.

Thank God that was a metaphor.

“That was easy,” Barry said. I knew he was being kind; he could’ve taken it down without blowing the engine block out, but he was testing the waters with me. May as well give him a good show in the meantime, so I’m glad that I took the weapons out that way. It’d be a useful trick.

“Good work, Flash,” Joe commented. His eyes flickered over to me and we exchanged glances; he wasn’t impressed, but he was thankful. He nodded to me. “Piper.”

“A pleasure, Officer,” I bowed sarcastically. Barry grabbed my shoulder and we vanished.

Back at Star Labs, Cisco and Caitlin were both glad to see we were both okay. They’d been watching it unfold through traffic cams and complimented me (Caitlin more than Cisco; I guess he was still warming up to me).

“Good work, Hartley,” Harrison said simply. “I’m impressed you showed restraint.”

“I offered to help The Flash. That means playing by his rules,” I explained. Harrison watched me closely, but he didn’t intimidate me anymore. “I knew what I was getting into when I started.”

He tapped his fingertips together thoughtfully, a habit of his I’d noticed years ago. “I’m glad to hear that.”

Everyone separated to do their thing; Caitlin and Cisco stayed on the Terminal doing whatever, Barry zipped out of his suit in a hurry and went to get something to eat. Harrison was rolling down the hallway towards the break room and I set my gloves down on their stand in the main room. With nothing else to do, I started walking back to my room.

Walking through Star Labs was always weird now with my enhanced hearing. I could hear light switches being flicked, Barry opening the refrigerator, every word of Cisco’s and Caitlin’s conversation. What I hadn’t been expecting was to hear Harrison talking to nothing. His voice was coming through a wall, but I heard it echo between four walls. A hidden room?

“ _Show me the future,_ ” he said. What the hell was that about?

Another voice appeared; muddled, nearly incoherent. The sound of it hurt my head and I flinched but resisted covering my ears.

“ _ **The future has been altered,**_ ” said the mysterious robotic voice. “ _ **However the end result appears to remain the same. The timeline appears to be stable.**_ ”

“ _How is that possible?_ ” asked the good doctor. “ _Any change should have disrupted it, so why hasn’t this?_ ”

“ _ **I do not know,**_ ” it continued. “ _ **It appears that Hartley Rathaway’s involvement with The Flash is not a contributing factor in the timeline and will not change Barry Allen’s fate.**_ ”

“ _…very well,_ ” Wells decided. “ _Keep me updated._ ”

The wall opened up and I didn’t have time to react. He was standing; honest to God standing, but I watched him sit back down in his chair.

I got the worst feeling that I wasn’t supposed to hear any of that.

“It seems we need to talk,” Wells began, a fake smile on his face. I felt venom drip through his words and every joint in my body locked up. “So, Hartley. Care for a game of chess?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MOTHA  
> FUCKIN  
> PLOT  
> TWIST
> 
>  
> 
> So yeah, Friday's chapter will consist of how I'm addressing canon. After that we can get down to business, okay? Bartley business.
> 
> It's coming, I promise. It's not just these two pussyfooting around each other forever haha. Hope you liked the chapter! Remember to leave Kudos and Comments, I read and love them all :) See you Friday!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go; Cliffhanger over!

Chess was something I’d shared with Harrison Wells long before any of this happened. It was a pastime, something we could compete at evenly; usually he would win, but every now and then I would pull one out from under him. I took pride in those moments.

This, however, was not one of those moments.

“It’s your move, Hartley,” urged Harrison. My eyes drifted away from the board, up to him. He was sitting back in his chair but he tapped his foot impatiently; he knew what he was doing to me. He was showing that he was in control here.

“I think we both know that this isn’t about chess, Harrison,” I said, moving a rook forward. I was hardly paying attention; it was to distract us, to keep us busy. Drawing out the conversation, more or less, and keeping up appearances.

Something Harrison appeared to be quite skilled in.

“Indeed,” he agreed, taking the rook.

I swallowed. “Is this the part where you tell me your master plan before killing me?”

“I don’t want to kill you, Hartley,” he said simply. He leaned back in his chair.

“But you could, right? With your speed, it would be done in a second,” I said. Harrison’s eyes narrowed. He wasn’t aware that I knew about that. “I saw it the night I attacked your home, blew the windows out. You ran out of the way quicker than I thought possible. That was before I met the Flash, though.”

Harrison didn’t move, he barely breathed or blinked. He was sizing me up, looking for any sign of weakness; he still thought I had the program. Killing me was dangerous. I was beginning to put the pieces together.

“So you’re helping Barry, and you won’t kill me because it’ll expose him…” I bluffed. “So you need Barry for something. I can’t imagine what, but it must be about this ‘future’ business.” I scoffed. “So are you Doc Brown or Doctor Who?”

Harrison chuckled at that, moving a piece. I couldn’t tell if he was even paying attention to the game anymore. I certainly wasn’t. But he wasn’t denying it; was time travel really even possible?

I suppose it made sense. The technology didn’t exist today but theoretically, if it did exist in the future, it could exist at any point in time. If it was technology at all; it could have been a meta-human. Either way, this didn’t seem like the kind of thing he would make up. It was far-fetched beyond reason, and Harrison didn’t deal in that trade.

“I come from the 25th century,” he said. “Years ago I traveled back to this era but was stranded when my powers shorted out. My speed comes and goes and I can’t control it.”

I worked through the science. Theoretically, if you were to move fast enough, it’s possible to travel through time that way, but it was far beyond my ability or understanding. I did, however, understand what Harrison was after. “So that’s why you’re helping Barry. You’re tricking him into bringing you back to your own time.”

“Not tricking him, per say,” Harrison mused. “By the time Barry is ready to travel with more precision, he’ll probably know about me. Then the decision will lie with him.”

“Travel with more precision?” I echoed. “You’re saying that Barry has done this before?”

“Once, by accident,” he said simply. “The details of the other timeline are still mostly a mystery and he only traveled a couple of days. However since he’s been back, the alpha timeline has been changed. Snart and his band of rogues were never supposed to get their weapons back, but this gave them an opportunity to get at Cisco.”

I mulled it all over and returned to the game. I moved a couple of pawns around, not trying to win but to draw the game out; the longer we played, the longer we talked. I needed to milk Harrison for all of the information he had if any of it was going to be useful.

“Your computer program mentioned my name,” I began. “But my involvement has changed nothing important.”

“Indeed,” said Harrison. He paused, thinking hard, holding his own tongue for once. I watched him chew his lip, roll his tongue over his teeth. The gears turned and turned away like the wheels of a train, but nothing came of it for a long while.

“Time, Hartley, is…extremely fragile,” he said vaguely. “What I can tell you is very limited. Whatever changed when Barry went back in time has, in some way, brought you into the equation. Despite your involvement, however, several…key points in history have not changed. These pivotal moments keep the timeline from fluctuating.”

“Which is why you aren’t getting rid of me,” I concluded. “If the timeline changes, the future you want to return to will be gone or at least changed.”

“Precisely,” he smiled. “You’ve always been clever.”

“I try.”

“Then you can surely understand when I ask you to keep this a secret,” he urged. “Especially from Barry. Any change in his disposition towards me could be devastating.”

I mulled over; I wanted nothing from Wells. Mostly I still felt like killing him, but now that I knew about his powers for sure, that wasn’t likely to happen. Did I have something to gain from this?

Despite it all I hated keeping secrets from Barry. I may have been lying about the program but this was a whole different ballgame. Even if telling him were to screw over Harrison, the last thing I wanted was to wreck an entire timeline. Who knew what the side effects could be?

At least, if the time came, I could use this information.

“Okay,” I decided. Wells nodded and pushed his Queen forward. He had won the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this was really super short, and honestly I'm not too happy with it. I was thinking about posting the next chapter today as well simply because this was super short and didn't further the plot anyway; it just needed to be said. I'll sleep on it, but for now I hope you liked it! Remember to comment and leave kudos, I love them all! See you Tuesday (or maybe later today? We'll see!)


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ewww I was actually busy today and almost ran out of time to upload. Glad I could keep with my schedule, so enjoy!

Star Labs had grown surprisingly dull.

When I worked at Star Labs, we were busied with the construction of the particle accelerator and/or our personal projects. Then last time I was here, I was scheming against Harrison and Barry, which kept my mind buzzing with ideas and plans.

Now, however, I sat around and waited for Barry to cal. Then I would grab my gloves and help him, then drive back. Occasionally I would stop for coffee.

And, in the whitest of white girl ways to say this, I loved a good Frappuccino with some Netflix binging. Wi-Fi is a beautiful thing.

I’d watched three episodes of “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” by the time anyone rolled in. It was Caitlin who flopped on the couch rather…what’s the opposite of ‘elegant’? Like that.

“Long day?” I mused and Caitlin merely sighed.

“Just tired. I was up late,” she said. She kicked her heels off and stretched out on the couch.

We sat in silence except for either laughter or me filling in Caitlin on something that had happened in the earlier episodes. It was oddly comfortable, but I didn’t dare say it aloud. The less they thought about our arrangement, the better.

Sometime between episodes 5 and 6, Cisco wandered in with his laptop. He occupied the recliner and didn’t say a word, working silently on something. My eyes wandered around the room; the usually abandoned lounge had filled up quickly. I couldn’t remember a day when Star Labs was up and running when there was even a soul in here. This room used to be more of a formality than anything, and now there was only one available seat.

Fate, it seemed, decided that Barry should walk in. I had no quarrels with sitting next to Barry, but I felt Caitlin’s sideways glance. It seems she hadn’t forgotten the night after I’d spoken with my parents.

“Everything alright?” Caitlin asked. Barry was eyeing the spot next to me, hesitating by the door, before finally making his way over and taking it. 

“Yeah. City’s quiet for once,” he mused. He relaxed next to me and sunk into the seat, and I felt myself do the same. Why were we so tense all of a sudden?

Around episode 9 we decided to switch over to a movie. Caitlin excused herself before it started, and Cisco followed her only minutes later.

Barry didn’t move; in fact, he was frozen in place like he was afraid to. I yawned and he looked down at me.

“I want popcorn,” I halfway mentioned before Barry vanished. He reappeared in his seat only a second later and extended a large bowl to me. I reached for a piece and realized it was just the kernels. “Uh…”

Barry took the bowl into his lap and put his hands under it. They all vibrated and began popping. He seemed to have underestimated himself when it was suddenly raining popcorn; most of it had ended up on the couch and floor, but a few stubborn pieces had wound up on his shoulders and in his hair.

“I…” He looked at the bowl like it had insulted his heritage or ran over his dog or something. He’d been bested by a bowl of popcorn kernels.

And this was the idiot who captured me.

“That’s what you get for being a showoff,” I teased, eating a piece out of his hair. He smiled and shoved my shoulder and shook his hair out. I picked a couple more pieces off his shoulder, but the rest was inedible.

We watched the move in comfortable silence for a long while. Barry was still. I thought back to my time in the Hospital while rubbing my stomach (I realized I did that a lot when I thought about that time). He was fidgety then, bouncing his leg and whatnot. What had changed?

Then there was the fact that we were alone now. The other seats had freed up, yet he sat back down next to me after going to get the kernels. He’d sprawled out since the popcorn incident as well, arm stretched out behind me on the back of the loveseat. His legs were spread apart comfortably and his knee was pressed against mine which I totally didn’t realize until now.

What had changed, indeed?

I didn’t know what to make of what had happened in these past few weeks. He’d saved my life and I had saved his. He thought I was blackmailing him, but it felt like he’d forgotten it entirely.

I knew I shouldn’t get close with Barry (well, closer than I already had). My time at Star Labs was limited as is, and I didn’t need ties here for when I inevitably had to leave.

That being said, I leaned into Barry without even meaning to. If he minded, he said nothing.

“We should really be more productive right now,” I mumbled, halfway hoping he would agree and get up. Barry chuckled and his chest vibrated against my shoulder.

“It’s okay,” he decided, and my head throbbed behind my eyes. “I like relaxing every now and then. Especially to watch a movie.”

“Didn’t know you were much of a movie buff,” I smiled to myself, hoping he couldn’t see.

“I wasn’t _that_ much of one before the accelerator blew,” he began. “Not like Cisco, anyway. I was more of a book guy. But now I can read novels in seconds, and it kind of ruined it as a pastime.”

“So you switched to movies?”

“Mhm. I have to watch it at the normal speed. If you fast-forward, it takes out the sound,” he said. He stayed quiet for what felt like a long time, enjoying the film for a bit. His breaths were even in his chest, deep and serene. “It…makes me slow down. Not much else can.”

I looked up at Barry. He was looking straight ahead at the TV, smiling to himself. It was like I’d vanished, let him be lost in his own little world. His eyes were glossy, happy, with tiny lines at the corners of his eyes.

He was truly happy to just be here. It was oddly comforting.

“I didn’t peg you for such a sentimentalist, either,” I smiled.

“I know. It sounds really stupid, huh?” he half-laughed and looked down at me. I’d been caught staring so I whipped my head back towards the screen.

Somehow or another I ended up curled into him under a blanket. Barry had hardly budged; his arm still strewn just above my shoulders, the only barrier between contact a thin layer of upholstery. I’d leaned into him entirely, head resting lazily onto his shoulder.

I counted his steady breaths, his slightly elevated heartbeat. I tried not reading too much into it, just enjoying the company. The body got lonely without being in contact with people close to you. It wasn’t sexual, it was just _touching_ him that made my skin feel warm.

It was a few seconds before I realized how literal that was. Fun fact about Barry; all of those fast little atoms turned him into the meta-human answer to the electric blanket.

It wasn’t overbearing, though. Since Star Labs tended to run cold anyway, it was nice to curl up against him. It was subtle, homely even, and pulsed sometimes in tandem with his heartbeat. It was kind of cute for some reason but I swallowed my words when I almost voiced it.

“I like it when you slow down,” I muttered. I didn’t mean for Barry to hear me, and I think he knew that, but I still heard his pulse elevate. I smiled to myself.

Maybe tomorrow I’d ask him about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY some Bartley action. I'm so glad that with things going the way they are, I'm able to actually start developing it more on the foreground instead of shameless flirting on Hartley's part.
> 
> So yeah, hope you all liked it! I haven't seen the new episode yet so please don't post any spoilers in the comments (both for my sake and the sake of other readers!!). Remember to leave comments and kudos, I love them all and I love you all! 14 chapters already? I can barely believe how much of this I've done in such a short time! Hopefully that won't slow down anytime soon now that it's summer. Thanks for reading :)


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost ran out of time tonight. Damn me and my personal responsibilities!
> 
> (PS. You're going to like this chapter)

It’d been three weeks since our first movie night.

Barry and I had fallen into a rhythm; working in Central during the day was the first part. We’d become sort of a dream-team. Barry tended to do a bit more of the work than I did. Not that I was slacking by any means; Barry was just faster than my new motorcycle that _totally kicked ass by the way_.

He didn’t mind, though. I think he liked showing off and I was happy to let him do just that.

Then afterwards we usually got takeout and headed back to the lab. We watched a lot of movies together; sometimes we ended up in the same position as our first night, sometimes not. We grew closer than I meant us to.

Things had been going well altogether, actually. Cisco still had bouts where he was uncomfortable around me but he was getting there. Caitlin had loosened up considerably, making a point to sit and hang out with Barry and I from time to time.

Barry and I had just returned to Star Labs. He groaned and pulled off his mask, fingers raking through his thick hair. I smiled to myself as I put my gloves away.

“Good work today, Hartley,” Caitlin smiled. Barry approached me, still in his suit (minus the mask).

“Yeah, thank you for that,” he said and my face threatened to turn pink. Today’s meta-human was particularly challenging, as they could outrun Barry by traveling through mirrors. I was able to pin them down by shattering them all, which gave Barry all the time he needed.

He was giving me that stupid squinty-eyed smile that I loved. “No worries,” I half-muttered.

Cisco cleared his throat; Barry was still looking at me and Cisco had taken notice. Barry chuckled and grabbed my shoulder for a second. It was a very “bro” gesture, but I flinched away from it to no avail; and my whole shoulder tingled from where his hand had been.

I’d been experiencing the same thing over and over and over with him. I knew damn well what was happening. I wasn’t a fool; we’d grown too close and I was attached. I’d grown fond of him.

It had to stop, as much as I hated it. I knew I had to cut ties.

I shot him a sideways glance while his back was turned. He wasn’t using his speed to take off his suit today. I’d noticed him using his speed less for mundane things in the past few weeks, but never brought it up to him.

What could I even say to him about our relationship? “ _Look, I know you’re straight so stop fucking teasing me because it would never work anyway_ ”? I doubted it was even intentional. He was too friendly for his own good, anyone could see that from a mile off. He was…warm, inviting. I’d learned from experience that he’d befriend a brick wall if it would watch a stupid movie with him.

“You there, Hartley?” Caitlin pressed. I blinked at nothing; how long had I been spacing out?

“Yeah, sorry,” I replied dismissively.

“We were going to go get a drink…wondered if you wanted to come with us,” she explained. My brow furrowed. Alcohol and I had never gotten along. I didn’t like having my thoughts clouded and my focus impaired. My brain was all I had going for me if something were to happen.

“I don’t drink,” I simplified.

Caitlin urged on. “Come on, we’re celebrating a job well done.” I shook ym head.

Barry turned his back on me for a moment, halfway whispering as if I couldn’t hear him.

“You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up,” he said. Caitlin and Cisco headed out, leaving us alone. I turned around, too, running my fingers through my hair.

“I’m not going,” I said plainly.

“You don’t even have to drink. I’m not,” he said. “Well, I probably will, but I can’t get drunk.”

I worked through the science in my head. His metabolism _would_ make it difficult. “Friendly though they may be, I doubt Cisco and Caitlin would be pleased.”

“Caitlin invited you herself, and Cisco…can get over it,” he shrugged. “You earned a celebration today, Hartley. You saved my life.”

I looked back at him, an unfortunate mistake on my part. I accidentally made eye contact and he was using those big greens of his. He even pouted, fucking _pouted_ at me.

I was weak.

“Fine,” I sighed. I only had a moment to take in Barry’s grin before he grabbed my shoulder and we were in the back of Caitlin’s car.

“I hate when you do that,” I muttered, but Barry ignored me with that stupid grin still intact. “You realize I’m still in my…” I looked down. I was wearing a sweater and khaki’s. Barry had changed my clothes.

That son of a _bitch_.

Barry chuckled at the realization and I shoved his shoulder. I only hoped he hadn’t changed my underwear; filing a sexual harassment charge against the Flash was not on my to-do list. Plus I couldn’t afford a lawyer, so I’d probably just kill him instead.

Caitlin pulled into the parking lot of their favorite bar and we all stepped out of the vehicle. Cisco darted out after a loud ‘whoo!’ and headed for the door, and Caitlin laughed and followed him in. I made a quick check under my waist; good, the same underwear. I could officially say that Barry Allen was a douchebag, but not a creep.

“You…okay?” Barry asked, blinking at me. He’d rounded the corner of the SUV to see me staring down my own pants.

I hadn’t even noticed that he had changed clothes, too. He’d traded in the leather suit for a black blazer and a red T-shirt with a pair of dark blue jeans His hair was still deflated from his mask but it was still ruffled and trying its best to defy gravity. God _damn_ he looked good.

“Fine, I’m fine. Let’s go already,” I dismissed and turned away. My face had flushed red and Barry was cackling behind me.

If this kept up, maybe I _would_ need a drink.

I entered the bar with Barry hot on my heels. It was busy, but mostly in the booths that lined the perimeter of the building. The two pool tables in the back of the building were occupied by large men with tattoos, one of which glanced back at us as we entered before returning to his game. I’d never been in a bar before, so I pulled at the collar of my sweater nervously while Barry urged me towards Caitlin’s and Cisco’s table.

They had four shots there, one in front of each of them and then one in each of the empty spots. I already knew what it was for and I groaned inwardly. It was for me. I’d never taken a shot in my life.

“Alright, finally,” Cisco grinned as Barry and I slid into our side of the booth. He was rubbing his hands together like that one kid who just made three rounds around the block on Halloween in different costumes just so he could get more candy. He downed his shot in one go, his eyes scrunching closed and he gasped immediately after. “Blech. Love that.”

I had no response to that. Caitlin shared my sentiment but she did her shot as well, not reacting as dramatically as Cisco did. She did cough a little afterwards, but covered it up relatively well.

Barry downed his without even flinching, then looked at me. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, Hartley. I’m sure Cisco would be heartbroken to have another shot,” he teased and Cisco gave that look that meant ‘okay, fair’. I locked eyes with Barry; I noticed how close he was sitting, how his arm was on the back of the seat behind me. I noticed that sitting down he was even taller than me than usual, and that the lighting was only making him look better than he did outside.

I grabbed the shot of clear alcohol (probably vodka) and downed it in one gulp. It burned on the way down, an odd but not unpleasant feeling. I suppressed the cough that threatened to come out and put the emptied glass back down. I looked up at Barry.

“Damn,” Cisco said. He seemed surprised that I could take a shot that easily. Was it not that easy for everyone? It seemed odd.

The three of them did most of the talking about things I had no involvement or interest in. Occasionally Barry would try dragging me into the conversation from time to time but I was always quick to escape it. He was growing more and more frustrated with my avoidance, though it was very well contained, and eventually gave up altogether.

“So how’s your dad Barry? You haven’t mentioned him in a while,” Cisco asked. “In fact, not since the whole thing with The Trickster when he found out you were The Flash.”

“He’s doing fine. Well, as fine as one can be in Iron Heights,” Barry said, rubbing the back of his head. The hair on his crown was sticking up but I decided not to tell him. I wasn’t about to distract him in the middle of this; I never got an opportunity to hear about Barry’s personal life, so this would be new.

“You haven’t talked to him?” Caitlin asked, sipping on her fruity drink that looked really good.

“Not in a while,” he said. “He keeps wanting to talk about me being,” he looked over his shoulder, but all of the other tenants seemed occupied with their own (much louder) conversations. “the Flash, but like, trying to do it in code since the guards monitor our conversation.”

“It’s not so crazy, is it?” Cisco mused. “It’s not every day you find out that your kid is a freakin’ superhero. That’s the kind of thing worth talking about.”

“I know. It’s just…different now that he knows. It’s weird,” Barry admitted. “Either way, I’m going to see him soon. Just to catch up.”

Cisco insisted on another round of shots and I decided I may as well; the first one hadn’t bothered me at all except for the original burning sensation which passed in a second. Barry retrieved them for us, only three this time since it wouldn’t affect him anyways (I supposed the first one was merely ceremonial).

“I suggest a toast,” Caitlin smiled. She was already a little tipsy, the lightweight, and Barry was watching her closely. Had they had an experience drinking? I’d have to make sure to ask.

“And what shall we toast to, Miss Snow?” Cisco teased and her smile widened.

“To Henry Allen,” she smiled. “For being surprisingly cool about his son being a vigilante with superpowers.”

“Amen to that!” Cisco said, raising his shot. Caitlin went to take hers but then stopped.

“Oh, and to Hartley!” she grinned drunkenly.

Oh, shit.

“What about him?” Barry asked curiously, watching her closely. Caitlin’s smile softened and she gestured towards me with her shot.

“For helping us protect Central City,” she began. She smiled and looked over to Cisco for cleared his throat.

He smiled a little, too. “And for not being nearly as big of a dick as you used to be.”

They all laughed. “To Hartley! Caitlin said as she and Cisco took their shots. Barry chanted along with them despite him not taking a drink, and I felt his eyes burn into the side of my face. I reached up to readjust my glasses before returning them to my lap to drum awkwardly on my thigh. They were looking at me, waiting for me to respond.

Did they really think that about me? It was easier not to think about it.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m just as big of a ‘dick’ as ever,” I toasted, raising my shot before gulping it down. Caitlin wiggled her finger at me.

“No no no no, see,” she stuttered. “The _old_ Hartley would never have admitted that he was a dick. He was too proud, conceited. And you’re still both of those things…”

“You flatter me.”

“But you’re different. Nicer,” she concluded, smiling. Chills raised on my skin and I didn’t know how to respond so I just sat quietly, staring at my empty drink. Cisco cleared his throat to fill the silence and began telling some kind of story that I tuned out.

Why did she bother saying those things about me? They couldn’t possibly say that. They were trying to butter me up, to get me drunk so that I would tell them about the program. I was taking advantage of their hospitality and they wanted to put an end to it so they could stick me back in the pipeline where I couldn’t hurt anyone.

 _That_ was what they thought of me. It had to be.

Barry was sitting closer than I remembered him being. There was plenty of room in the booth but his leg was flush up against mine. His arm brushed against mine every time he gestured with his hands (which was quite a lot) and I couldn’t bring myself to scoot away from him. It would make things more awkward than they already were.

Caitlin kept smiling at me while she talked. Cisco was being nice to me for the first time. Barry was being…whatever he was being. It all hit me at once and I felt sick.

Or was that the shots? Either way, I needed some air.

“Can you let me out?” I half-choked out. Barry didn’t question it, sliding out of the seat and watching me nervously while I made a beeline for the door.

It wasn’t the door that I meant to take but it still took me into the alley just outside the bar. Cool air rushed my face and I shivered but it was soothing. It was hot in there and this was a welcome change.

I didn’t throw up, no matter how much I felt like doing it. Thoughts buzzed around in my head and I certainly felt nauseous but nothing would come up. The narrow alley was unoccupied except for myself. The door had shut behind me and probably locked but I didn’t think about it, or the bar, or Barry, or the shots, or Caitlin and Cisco, or Barry.

 _Especially_ not Barry. I could hardly stand it anymore. How could they be so kind to me after all I had done, after what they thought I was still doing?

I rested on the brick wall opposite the bar’s exit. I pressed my arm flush against the wall and my forehead against my arm, tugging at the collar of my sweatshirt to get some air. I felt awful. Guilty, nauseous, awful. What could I even say to them?

When the door opened behind me, I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. “Hartley, are you alright?” Barry asked.

“I’m fine,” I answered quickly. I hadn’t realized how heavily I was breathing until I was lightheaded just from speaking. Was I having a panic attack? It didn’t feel like one, and I’d had plenty before.

Barry paused and I heard his heart begin racing. He was worried about me, worried that was sick or upset or both. “You sure?” he pressed. I frowned and turned back around to face him.

“No, I’m not okay, Barry, I…” I paused. I’d finally realized what time it was.

This was it. This was when I had to break everything off before it all became real. I was sick of being teased and I was sick of lying to Barry and Cisco and Caitlin and even Harrison. I was sick of everything I’d had to do and I was _sick_ of getting that look from Barry fucking Allen.

My things were at Star Labs, my gloves and my personal belongings. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t go back there. If I didn’t end it now, I never would. And ending it now meant running away, faster or further so that he couldn’t catch me.

“I want to leave Star Labs,” I said. I waited for Barry to say something, anything, but he froze with his eyes wide. I wanted him to tell me to stay and I wanted him to tell me to get out. I wanted him to do anything but look like he fucking pitied me.

“I…” he stuttered. “I can’t stop you, Hartley. If you want to leave, you can.”

That was fucking _it_.

“What is with you, Allen?” I practically yelled and Barry flinched. I stood from leaning on the wall and took a step towards him. “I’m your prisoner, then I’m your sick ward. Then I’m your date, your ally, and your fucking movie buddy. Then you tell me I can just leave? What’s your problem?”

Barry just blinked at me, confused, and I groaned. _Boys_.

“I don’t understand,” he muttered and I was frothing. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry.”

I snapped, more than I think I ever had before. It wasn’t easy to get me truly mad, and the shots may not have been helping, but this had been building under the surface ever since I came back to Central City.

“Stop being so…so _fucking_ nice to me!” I yelled and I leaped at him, shoving him backwards. He didn’t dodge it, just watched in amazement as I screamed at him. “Stop treating me like I’m your friend, or your girlfriend, or whatever! We are _not_ friends Barry Allen!”

Barry stood up straight and I tried shoving him again to no avail; he just stumbled a little and my hands just pushed on a solid mass. “I thought we _were_ friends!” he shouted back.

“No! I’m your prisoner, so _treat me like it_!” I shot back. “We’re not Hartley and Barry, we’re enemies. The Flash and the Pied Fucking Piper. Treat me like it!” My blood pressure was through the ceiling and I went to punch him which Barry ducked away from. I could barely see straight, only seeing flashes of red mixed in with his stupid face.

I could barely stand to look at Barry right now. He wasn’t even mad, just watching me like I was some crazy animal. I _felt_ like a crazy animal, all instinct and rage. I hadn’t planned this conversation ahead like I normally would; it was all emotion. All of my frustration had to come out now before I left.

I shoved at Barry again but he wouldn’t budge and my fists balled up the fabric of his T-shirt. I pushed with all of my force and his back hit the metal door that led to the bar. His heart had doubled, tripled in speed, his breaths shallow, scared even.

“You’re not my prisoner,” he said and my heart sunk into my stomach. He was shutting me down completely. I let go of his shirt but my hands didn’t move, hovering above the wrinkled fabric and shaking like leaves. “You know that. You can tell everyone…”

“Oh my God, there _is no program_!” I blurted out. I pushed at him again and Barry dodged, grabbing my wrist. He spun around me and pinned it above my head. I struggled against him but Barry was stronger than he looked. I sunk in my spot and tears gathered at the corners of my eyes, spilling over almost immediately.

“ _What_?” Barry gasped. This was it; how I’d finally get him to tell me to leave. I’d have to make him hate me forever.

“I lied, okay?” I sobbed, wiping at my face with the arm of my sweater. “I couldn’t get Snart’s program. I lied so that I could manipulate you. I don’t have the program. I can’t do anything to you, so just…”

My voice was shaking and there was no weight to my words anymore. “So just tell me to leave and I’ll do it. I’ll go.” Barry was watching me, staring, not daring to blink in case he missed something. His lips parted then drew back together, then parted again to speak. I cut him off.

“Or tell me I’m your prisoner. I need to know…” I hesitated, gasping for a breath. “I need to know I can’t leave. Tell me that that’s the only reason I’ve stayed at the lab with you, and that nothing else is keeping me there.” Barry pushed on my chest softly with one hand and my back pressed against the freezing metal door.

“You can leave.”

Barry’s hand left my wrist but stayed on the door next to my head, and his other hand came up to flank me. His body drew closer and his nose was centimeters from mine. Shivers ran through me and I felt his breaths on my skin, heard his pulse, his breaths. They were steady, confident. No doubt.

“Just don’t go.”

He leaned in and kissed me hard. Any frustration I had melted away and I threw my arms around his neck, pulling myself deeper into him. His eyes had shut and mine did the same but I wish they hadn’t so that I could somehow verify what was happening.

His hands came down to grab at my face, fingers cupping the sides of my neck while his thumbs ran over my cheeks. I breathed through my nose to avoid losing contact, losing myself in it. Barry didn’t part, still moving his lips in time with mine. They were soft, warm as he was the night we watched that movie together. It was like he held nothing back, pressing against me just as hard as I pressed into him.

Our bodies were flush against each other, though that was more on my part than his. I’d worked one leg between his and jumped onto my toes just to get closer to him. One hand reached for the fabric of his jacket and the other gripped at the back of his head. Fingers swirled through his brown locks and I clutched hard but Barry didn’t flinch. I grabbed onto anything I could.

And then, as quickly as it began, it was over. Barry drew away gasping, panting like a dog, his forehead pressed against mine. I could barely think and I didn’t dare try to put a sentence together for fear of my own tongue.

When I finally opened my eyes, Barry was staring directly into mine. His were piercing green, pupils blown wide. His faint laugh lines were on either side of his eyes and he was smiling, _grinning_ like a child. I wasn’t smiling, at least I think I wasn’t. I was just gaping at him like a fish.

We didn’t move. I think someone pressed on the door to exit but Barry shut it with his foot so it didn’t spoil the moment.

“Explain yourself. Immediately,” I demanded softly. Barry just chuckled, his thumbs still ghosting across my cheeks. He planted one last tiny kiss on my lips and I ate it up before he separated us. He smiled while he rounded the corner towards the main entrance, leaving me alone in the alley. Suddenly I was cold again, my arms retreating around myself. Had that really just happened? I screamed at him, yelled at him, called him on all of his shit, and then he just…

I looked around me. I had my chance to leave. He wasn’t there to stop me this time. It was now or never that I left for good. Did Barry know that? Was this his last-ditch effort to get me to stay? Or was he making sure he got his kiss in case I did? It had to be the first one, right? This was him trying to manipulate me as some sort of payback for lying to him.

So what should I do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOT! FINALLY some action.
> 
> I've been building up to this chapter for so long oh my god, I've been dying to post it. From here, things can actually get interesting! :)
> 
> I hope you guys liked it. I was also kind of nervous about this chapter because I wasn't sure if I did this the right way, especially since it's been building up for so long. Not that this is anything concrete, naturally, but it's the first actual Bartley we've had in the fic. I'm glad I could finally get to this point haha. Remember to leave kudos and comments! And please do comment on this chapter with what you think because I really need feedback on this one more than any other chapter. Thanks in advance, and I'll see you on Tuesday!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the fallout of that kiss. What will happen next? *DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN*

I left the bar, but I didn’t run away. I went straight back to the lab, alone.

Since I rode with Caitlin, I had to walk back. It wasn’t far, but it was far enough to give me time with my thoughts. I had to think about what had happened between me and Barry.

He had just _kissed_ me, after all. If it sounded odd in my head, it must sound positively foreign to say aloud. I didn’t dare, not yet.

Why did he even do that in the first place? He _couldn’t_ like me that way, could he? I was gushing about this like a teenage girl. It was just a kiss, it could mean anything. He must have known how I felt about him, how it had snuck up on me and I was in too deep before I even knew what was happening. He must have had this as a contingency plan in case of an emergency, but realizing that he had all the control over me that he needed, decided to use it as payback. Would he do something like that?

When push came to shove, I didn’t know all that much about Barry. He seemed like a genuine person but I had no guarantee he hadn’t been playing me this whole time. He thought I had the upper hand for a bit, maybe that was what made him angry enough to want revenge? I suppose it was possible.

But that still didn’t _sound_ like Barry. Barry, who had taken me to the Hospital just on the hunch I was in pain. Barry, who had cooked for me and watched movies with me. Could all of that really have been a lie, or convenience?

I had no way of knowing which was true.

Walked through the parking lot to Star Labs. Caitlin’s car wasn’t there, so either she had come and went or she was still at the bar with the others. It didn’t really matter.

I went inside but the lights were on. Harrison wouldn’t be here this late, would he? It seemed unlikely. Then I saw Barry pacing in the main room, his hands pressed together in front of his lips.

“Hartley, oh my God!” he said. “I…when you didn’t come back inside, I got worried. I thought that you had…”

He came at me like he wanted a hug but I ducked away from him. He didn’t bother chasing me for it, I just went around him and ducked my head.

“Hartley…?”

“Leave me alone, Barry,” I pleaded. I still felt my chest shake looking at him, seeing his face drop when I flinched away from him. I saw his lips part and I remembered kissing them, pressing into them with everything I had like it would make everything better.

But it didn’t. Everything just fell out from under me.

I locked myself in my room and fell asleep instantly.

………..

Hartley had barely left his room in four days.

I could barely sleep. I was at Star Labs for every meal, bringing something to him breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each time he refused until I was busy in the city. Then Caitlin brought him food and she told me that he had taken it with only a silent, suspicious glare before locking the door again.

What had I done wrong?

I hadn’t known I liked Hartley until moments before I kissed him. I should have seen the signs; the closeness, the movies, the way I caught him looking at me and the way I caught myself looking at him. It was plainly obvious to everyone but me, apparently. And he was standing here, practically pouring his heart out (in his own weird way), and I thought he was into it.

Was I wrong? Had I taken advantage of him when he was vulnerable? I was trying to make him feel better, acting on an impulse that was stronger than I thought it could be. I hadn’t felt like I did in that moment since Iris.

I felt horrible. I could barely focus. My work slipped, being the Flash became ten times more dangerous because I was too distracted and kept slipping up. I ran into more cars than I could count, even broke my hand once (which healed in half an hour anyway).

I was a disaster.

The others noticed. Caitlin was doting after me like a mother, and Cisco kept offering to go get a drink with me (like _that_ had gone so well last time, and I think he was becoming an alcoholic). Harrison noticed my distress but did little else than offer his ear to talk, but I didn’t want to talk to him about it. Or Caitlin, or Cisco.

I wanted to talk to Hartley.

Any time I came to the door, Hartley knew it was me. I even went along with Caitlin once to see if he would open the door, but he heard our heartbeats (that super-hearing was starting to become super-inconvenient).

Caitlin was growing increasingly frustrated with me because she knew that I knew what was going on with Hartley but wouldn’t say anything. She noticed that it was bothering me, too, and she was worried about both of us. I didn’t know what else to say, but after four days of silence from Hartley, I had to vent to someone.

“I kissed Hartley!” I practically shouted. Caitlin jumped and I immediately apologized. I’m glad it was only us (and Hartley, I supposed) in Star Labs. He could probably hear me talking but I didn’t care. I wasn’t about to say anything I didn’t mean, especially now.

“Oh my God,” Caitlin gasped. I made some random gesture with my hands which somehow accurately displayed my mood. “Is that why he’s upset?”

“I guess! I thought he…he liked me, I don’t know,” I groaned, falling back into a chair that rolled back from the force. “He told me that…his program to reveal my identity was fake. He never had it, he was just using it to manipulate us. Then he kept saying that he needed me to tell him to leave, and that _I_ was the only reason he was staying, and…”

“Holy…wow, okay, wow,” Caitlin repeated, hands on her forehead. “Processing. Wow, okay. So I thought you didn’t like him last time we talked about this!”

“I didn’t! Or, I thought I didn’t? I don’t know! I’m not an expert in this, like, at all!” I groaned. I rubbed my hands over my face, groaning into my palms. “But Hartley won’t listen to me, or let me explain myself.”

“What’s there even to explain?” she asked. I went to answer and came up with nothing. I just ended on making a fart noise with my tongue. “Very mature.”

“I don’t know what to say, or what I did wrong,” I said. “I guess I’ll just apologize for…whatever I did.”

Caitlin didn’t respond. She sat back in her own chair, thinking. “So Hartley doesn’t have the program anymore, which means he doesn’t have power to make demands. Should we…put him back in the pipeline?”

“ _NO_!” I urged and her eyes widened. “We can’t…not after this. I don’t know what to do.”

“Good. I didn’t want to, either,” she said. Caitlin stood up and walked down the hallway. I stood and went to follow her but she waved me off. She went to go do something alone, probably to talk to Hartley.

She disappeared for a long time. I heard the shower running far down the hall; was she _taking a shower_ , seriously? What would that solve? Still, she had forbidden me from following her, and I was still hoping she had some sort of plan with this.

It felt like hours before she came back. I’d spaced out, lost in my own worries so much that I didn’t even notice Cisco come in. I didn’t say anything to him about what was happening, or what I’d told Caitlin; I knew his opinion of Hartley, and I wanted to sort out one mess before I dove head-first into another one.

Caitlin finally came back, only appearing at the entrance to the hallway and gesturing for me to follow her. I did so quickly, fast enough that I think I may have used my speed on accident. We moved down the hallway and I blinked twice; Hartley’s door was open.

“I got him to agree to speak with you, but you have to stay completely calm,” she said, whispering in hopes he couldn’t hear her despite that he almost definitely could. “Just be gentle and sincere. He’s angry…I don’t know why, but he is. Deal with it.”

She turned on her heel and left me standing a few feet away from the open door. While approaching it I realized that Caitlin hadn’t showered at all. Then, looking into the room, I saw that Hartley _had_.

He was only wearing a pair of sweatpants with a towel around his neck. He was still dripping wet, his hair soaked and dripping all over the bedspread he was sitting on. His eyes were cold, calculating, locked on me like he intended to kill me with just his gaze. I hadn’t seen him this furious since the night he fought with his parents, or maybe the night we fought on the bridge. That felt like it was so long ago, like it had never even happened.

“Hartley, I…”

“Why did you kiss me?” he asked sternly. I flinched at the question.

“Wasn’t that obvious?”

“Don’t dodge the question,” he snapped. I hesitated, letting it sink in. I had to do this carefully or I’d never get to talk to him.

“Because I wanted to. And I…I _thought_ that you wanted to, too,” I said honestly. I was trying to show him that I felt that way but some kind of barrier had come up between us, one I hadn’t meant to build but I guess that somehow I did.

“You wanted to,” he echoed. “What a cheap answer.”

“Then what do you want me to say?” I asked. I felt the urge to raise my voice but swallowed it down. Not that it wouldn’t have been justified; I was frustrated beyond belief. I didn’t know what Hartley had bouncing around up there, but surely he must have known I didn’t mean anything bad by a _kiss_.

“Tell me the truth,” requested. “I told you I wanted to leave. That’s how you got me to stay?”

“I…I guess so,” I admitted. Is that what it looked like? He thought I was manipulating him? Oh God, he thought I was taking advantage of him to… “Hartley, do you think I’m…manipulating you?”

“Of course you are,” he scoffed, turning away from me. I rushed over to him (at a normal-human speed) and tried to put a hand on his shoulder but he slapped it away. His glare was a warning; back off or lose the hand. I stepped back once.

“Not everything…” I paused. How could I put this into words? “…has to be some sort of complicated plan or plot. Sometimes, you feel something, and…you have to express it as best you can.” Hartley gave me the once over, eyeing me, looking for any deceit. I didn’t know how to make myself more sincere than I felt, so I just left my hands at my sides and kept eye contact with him. He was suspicious of me.

“I’m sorry if I made you think I was…taking advantage of you,” I continued. “Hartley if I ever hurt you, please don’t shut me out like this. I need you to talk to me. I’m not as smart as you,” I chuckled. Hartley cracked the tiniest of smiles but it quickly retreated.

He repeated his earlier question, softer this time. His voice cracked halfway through it. “Why did you kiss me?”

“Because I wanted to, because I like you,” I said and Hartley flinched visibly. “I like you a lot. I don’t know how. I’ve never liked…a guy like this before, so you’ll have to be patient with me. But I really do.”

Hartley was still, the chip on his shoulder slowly falling to pieces. I could tell what was going on now; he was so sure that he wasn’t worth liking that he’d come up with anything to justify that in his own head. He’d called himself a villain, accepted that lifestyle and what came with it. Now I had a question for him.

“Why did you kiss me back?” I asked and Hartley froze. I took a step towards him at the same time he stepped back, keeping the distance between us (actually getting a little closer with him, thank you long legs).

“…because I really, really wanted to,” he admitted (a little bitterly) and something fluttered in my stomach. Finally, confirmation that he…holy crap, this was weird. I wound up grinning like a dope. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

I looked at him. His face was turning bright pink; he was a complete nerd about this. I’d never seen him like this before; I doubt anyone had (except I guess his ex-boyfriends). I was looking forward to seeing his face turn pink more.

“I think I can manage that,” I sighed, feigning annoyance. Luckily he picked up on the sarcasm and he started leaning in towards me.

His eyes didn’t shut when he leaned in; he was watching me, still nervous about it all. I closed my eyes as I closed the gap between us, pressing our lips together for the second time.

It wasn’t like last time; our first kiss was passionate, all of the emotions Hartley had been feeling changed from rage into…whatever the hell that was called. This was simpler, sweeter, trying to melt away Hartley’s insecurities to get him back to the snarky asshole he really was. The boy I was kissing wasn’t Hartley Rathaway, not really; he was too unsure of himself, too nervous. I was looking forward to kissing that Hartley again. Although kissing someone with a bit of stubble was going to take some getting used to.

Not that I minded. After all, that would take plenty of practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo!!! Finally some real shit. I've been looking forward to this.
> 
> So from here my plan for the story is slightly shaky but quickly coming together. I've bounced around a few different directions but I think I've settled on the one I like the best. I may have to start backing down to one chapter per week because my posting is starting to catch up. Or maybe not, we'll have to see. For now, I'll see you on Friday. Remember to leave Kudos and comments :D


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is officially the last completed chapter I have D: Let's hope I can crank out a few more over the weekend. Let's begin!

I hadn’t bothered checking, but it felt like Barry and I were…official? It was weird to think about. I hadn’t dated in ages, and this was not what I expected it to be like again.

Honestly it didn’t feel much different than how we were before. We’d go out, fight some people, though I caught Barry being a little more protective of me than before. After the job was done he’d stop and kiss me, his own way of telling me ‘job well done’, I supposed. It certainly worked well as an incentive to step up my game.

Then, back at the lab, we’d sit together and eat and chat with the others. We hadn’t discussed anything about us, but they’d noticed our change in behavior for sure. We didn’t kiss or anything in front of them, but I’m sure at least Caitlin knew. Harrison surely knew; he’d probably known for quite some time given his whole ‘future’ thing. As for Cisco, he was probably still in denial. I didn’t really care.

We hadn’t discussed when we should bring it up, either, and neither of us felt like it. We enjoyed our alone time, usually either making out or watching movies on the couch together. Cuddling became our favorite pastime; what had once been an anomaly (me ending up curled into him on the couch) was now expected, Barry flipping up the blanket for me to curl into him each time. The city had been active, so unfortunately our movie nights weren’t as frequent, but we took what we could get and ran with it.

And if nothing else, Barry was good at running with it.

He’d adjusted surprisingly well to having a male significant other (I hadn’t bothered pushing the ‘b word’ yet). I’d dated bi guys before, being their first guy, and they always treated me like they would typically treat a woman in a relationship. Barry knew that I wasn’t a woman and reacted accordingly; there would be no ridiculous shows of chivalry as if trying to prove himself, and he was just as welcome to punch me in the arm as he was to kiss me. I was impressed.

Especially with the second option; I liked the second option a lot.

I pulled my hood down to cover my blush I’d developed thinking about all of it. Barry was jogging alongside my bike, teasing my slow speed over the roar of the wind and my engine. I ignored him with a little smile.

Cisco came over the channel, informing us of a robbery on fifth avenue. I took a hard right and Barry did the same, steadily gaining speed until he was nearly out of sight. He was holding up for my sake, trying to keep the playing field even, but he understood the severity of a robbery. He couldn’t take this lightly for my sake, and I got that.

He beat me there by a longshot, but still hadn’t settled it by the time I arrived. I pulled my hood down and stepped into the store.

The man had taken a hostage, the barrel of his pistol pressed against the side of the man’s head. Barry couldn’t run and grab it; one flick of the trigger and there would be no getting him out of the way, he was dead. Barry had to do this carefully.

The man’s eyes flickered to me for a second and he was angry; he didn’t like the idea of being outnumbered. “Who’s he?”

“A friend,” Barry simplified, his voice altered. “Please put the gun down and we can talk about this.”

“What do you want?” I spoke up. The man didn’t answer but he was sweating, panicked; his heart was racing way too fast to be healthy in the long term. I scanned the store; it was a corner store, so there were lots of glass windows around. I could startle him by shattering the glass which _could_ give Barry an opening, but he could also shoot the guy immediately. That wasn’t an option.

I looked at his gun closely; it wasn’t a standard issue weapon that I could recognize. Shooting it with my gloves was too risky because if I got the frequency wrong, it could trigger the gun or at least piss him off enough to fire. I didn’t want to leave this up to Barry, though. If this went south, he’d only blame himself.

“What do you want?” I repeated. The man’s eyes locked on me but he didn’t say anything; just fired at me.

I hesitated, but thankfully Barry didn’t. He tackled me out of the way in an instant and was immediately gone. The back of my head hit the ground hard and my vision spun.

My head shot to the right and lightning was circling around the man. The gun was suddenly lying in front of me, dismantled with the bullets strewn about, and then the dude flew through one of the windows. It shattered and he was lying on the street.

I didn’t even have time to stand up before Barry was back on me. He leaned over with his hands on either side of my face. “Are you alright?” he asked, slightly panicked. His heart was racing and I sighed.

“Yes, I’m fine, stop babying me,” I teased. He helped me to my feet and he hugged me in the middle of the store, uncaring of whoever might be around. Would it be weird for people to see The Flash hugging this strange guy who just so happened to be there for all they knew. I hadn’t heard anything on police scanners about the Flash’s accomplice, so I guess I’d stayed of the radar for now.

Then he kissed me and the frustration went away. His lips touched mine and I felt the edges of that stupid mask below my eyes. I smiled against him and he pulled away, hands still on my shoulders.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. We smiled and then someone cleared his throat on our right. Barry’s and my head turned in unison to the black man standing there, gun in one hand and a confused expression on his face.

“Joe,” Barry concluded. I remembered meeting him briefly one time, in which he had pulled a gun on me and called me Piper. I hadn’t hit the media when I attacked Rathaway Industries (they were trying to keep the meta-human thing quiet), but Barry must have told the man about me. I had forgotten to ask who the man was to Barry.

“Did you…were you just?” he stuttered, trailing off. His gun was at his side but I saw his hand itching to raise it. He was pissed.

“Yeah, it’s a…long story,” Barry oversimplified. “I’ll tell you about it later, I guess?”

“You’d better,” he said. He gestured at me with his pistol (his finger away from the trigger, thankfully). “Watch yourself, Rathaway.”

That was a very stern warning, but I nodded anyway. He did the same and holstered his gun, walking back towards his vehicle. “Who is that guy anyway?” I inquired.

“Joe West. He’s…” he trailed off for a moment. “My foster dad.”

_Oh, shit._

“Not exactly how I planned on meeting the family,” I said, trying to lighten the mood a little. I looked up at Barry; he wasn’t taking this particularly well. I knew what it felt like, how scary it was coming out to someone. I still wasn’t totally sure what Barry even _was_ as far as a labeled sexuality goes, but I guess it didn’t really matter.

“That’s not going to be fun later,” Barry said. His heart rate had sped up again (it was already racing when he thought I was going to get shot, but it sure as hell hadn’t slowed down). I put my hand in his and he was surprised; we’d never held hands before and it was alien to him. It’s not like it was some big step or something, but he was surprised by the action nonetheless.

“Come on. Let’s get back,” I said softly. He gave me a quick glance before staring back off into space. He nodded and squeezed my hand before releasing it, vanishing. I pulled my hood back on (I hadn’t even realized that it came off when I was thrown back) and ran back out to my bike. Barry was nowhere in sight, probably running off his feelings or whatever guys do. I sped off just as more cops were arriving.

I double-checked with Cisco that nothing else was happening in the city. When he gave me the all clear, I made my way back to the lab.

As soon as I got in I ditched my gloves and immediately went to find Barry. I knew he wasn’t ready to talk about…whatever this was, but it was inevitable now. I noticed Caitlin sitting behind the terminal. “Hey, you know where Barry is?”

“In your room, for some reason,” she said, wondering why. I thanked her without answering her silent question and headed that way.

Barry was sitting on my bed, flipping through something on his phone with his head cradled in one hand. He was waiting on me, I guess, to talk about something.

“Everything alright?” I asked. He jumped a little; he hadn’t even heard me come in, lost in his own world, so he locked his phone and set it down next to him.

“Yeah, I’m just…” he paused. “Nervous about talking to Joe.”

“Ah. I figured as much,” I told him. He looked up at me like a puppy and I tried to ignore it because I was weak when he pulled shit like that. I sat down next to him, staring out at nothing. “When I…came out to my parents, you know it didn’t go well.”

I wasn’t giving him any confidence. I heard him exhale, sighing as if he’d already been defeated, so I pressed on. “But my parents…they weren’t good people. Joe is, clearly. Do you really think he’ll have a problem with us being...together?”

This wasn’t the time to push the b-word, and if Barry noticed my hesitation, he said nothing.

“No. It’s just…I don’t think he ever expected it,” Barry explained. “Especially with you.”

“What does that mean?” I chuckled, and Barry’s face burned pink.

“I’ve never said particularly nice things about you,” he explained. “I’ve barely mentioned your name since the first time we met, and we were fighting. That’s all he knows about you.”

I paused. Yeah, that could certainly put a damper on things. I racked my brain; how do you tell your foster dad that your sort-of-boyfriend was previously a supervillain but isn’t now? That’s not one you’ll find on Yahoo answers.

So I offered the first thing that came to mind, which I would immediately come to regret. “What if I come and talk to him with you?”

“Would you really do that?” he asked, lighting up a little. I sighed inwardly; I couldn’t back out of that split-second decision, could I? Random acts of kindness were not my forte, but this dork managed to squeeze one right out of me.

This boy would be the death of me, I was sure of it.

“Of course,” I grinned through my own frustration towards myself. “How about tonight?”

“Y-Yeah, definitely,” he agreed.

“Then it’s a date.”

This date wasn’t going to be as fun as our dinners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you're thinking; this is going to turn into some cliche yaoi fic about coming out and blah blah blah. Those are all well and good, but this is leading to something, I swear. Just have a bit of faith!
> 
> I hope you guys like it! I'll know for sure on Tuesday if I'm going to need to drop down to one chapter per week, but for now let's assume that it'll remain at two. My personal life's demands are greater than I realized, even with school finally being out (take a drink for that hot damn). Anyway, hope you like the chapter! Remember to leave comments and kudos, I love and appreciate you all :D See you Tuesday!


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a whole lot to say about this one other than that it's a bit longer than some of my other chapters. Let's go!

I didn’t know how to dress to meet Joe.

I thought formal might have been appropriate, but Barry insisted that it wouldn’t be necessary. But whenever I tried toning it down, I ended up looking like a teenager. There was no in-between in my wardrobe, it felt like, so I decided on a button up and slacks with no tie. Barry gave me a weird look, as if I was still too overdressed.

“It’s as good as it’s going to get,” I urged and he smiled a little. “Are you alright?”

“Just a little shaky,” he admitted. I grabbed his arm and he deflated a little as he breathed out. He was worse than he was letting on; this kind of thing was eating him up. He’d never had to keep a secret from Joe before, not really. And though this wasn’t one he kept for particularly long, it was a secret nonetheless.

“Joe has a way of finding things out about me,” Barry teased. His train of thought appeared to be similar to mine, but I let him continue without interruption. “After I got my powers, he was the first one to find out. It was never an issue. Nobody knew about The Flash except for the guys at Star Labs, and that wasn’t my fault. This was _deliberately_ hidden from him.”

“You don’t owe him anything, Barry.”

“Joe raised me after my dad was put in prison,” he sighed. He was almost sweating, his own internal struggle with all of this really getting to him. “I at least owe him enough to be honest, if not everything.”

“Not this.” He looked down at me and I was crying inwardly about how cliché this all was. I couldn’t believe what I had just said; we were becoming a really gay Nicholas Sparks book. Barry was getting lost in his head again, so I snapped in front of his face. He knew how I was when I got bitchy, so he snapped out of it pretty quickly. “Are you ready to go?”

“As I’ll ever be.” He grabbed my shoulder, and Barry ran.

It only took a few moments to arrive at Barry’s home. I’d never seen it before, but it was pretty much what I would expect for him. A simple two-story home with a nice little porch and a small driveway. It was painfully average, but somehow suiting of him. Heroes from humble beginnings had always been a theme I enjoyed since every aspect differed from me.

I noticed an extra car in the driveway. Did Barry have a car? It seemed unlikely given his speed, but he could have had one before the accident. Or perhaps Joe had two; I would be the last to judge, my old family had more cars than they needed.

I listened closely, tuning out Barry’s racing (more than normal, anyway) heartbeat. I heard a heartbeat inside, then two, then three. I immediately assumed the worst.

“Barry, stop.” He had spaced out entirely and opened the door, and I ran behind him. He froze on the other side, eyes wide as he stared off to my left.

“Now who is this girl Joe is being so cryptic about, hm?” a woman asked. I didn’t recognize the voice, but Barry’s already fast pulse practically tripled. Was she important to him? I couldn’t imagine why else he would be so startled. Maybe a sister or something he hadn’t mentioned.

She tried rounding the corner but Barry stepped in front of her. “Iris, what are you doing here?” he asked. Iris, Iris…I’d heard that name before. He’d mentioned her, or Caitlin had or something, but I couldn’t place it. I suppose it didn’t matter, I’m sure it wouldn’t take long for it to come up.

“Dad invited me. He said you were bringing ‘someone special’ home,” she said, and I heard the air quotes around her words. Joe had been vague about the fact I was a boy, probably for the sake of his own awkwardness, and suddenly I felt like running the other way. She also referred to Joe as her dad, so I’m guessing this was Barry’s foster sister.

“Now let me meet her. Hi, I’m…” she trailed off as she pushed her way around Barry. She stopped dead, which gave me a good second to look at her. She was gorgeous, with silky black hair and flawless dark skin to match her father’s. Her face was one of shock as she looked at me, and all I could do was wave awkwardly. “…Iris,” she finally concluded.

“Nice to make your acquaintance,” I smiled sweetly. I was _so_ going to give Barry shit for this later when it was less stressful for him. His sister’s face was priceless.

“You’re…a boy?”

“Last time I checked.” Barry half-glared and half-panicked in my direction, and I winked at him for good measure. He swallowed nervously and Iris looked back at Barry for a second.

“He’s your…oh,” she said, coming to the realization. Barry just shrugged and gave her an awkward smile.

“Surpriiiiiise!” he said awkwardly. He chuckled and she didn’t laugh, just gaping at him. She took a double-take back to me before looking back at Barry.

It was an odd experience. She didn’t act like she resented me, at least not yet, she was just coping with the realization.

Then another person came to the door, and the process started over. The blond, super attractive guy ran over, smiling, then saw me, his jaw dropped, stuttered a little, rinse and repeat. Then he and Iris exchanged a glance of their own.

Barry was sweating at this point; we were all just standing in the doorway, two of us with our jaws dropped, one having an existential crisis, and then me struggling not to laugh myself into a coma at their reactions.

“This is all well and good, but may we take this inside?” I suggested. The three of them snapped out of it at once and looked at me, a mix of glances between each other. That was followed by a lot of mashed up excuses, affirmatives, and apologies. I ignored them and walked past the group, and they followed me inside.

I took inventory of the room around me. It was simple, elegant, with shiny wood floors and warm lighting. It was cozy, homey, I liked it. I could see why Barry had moved back in here.

“Hello, Hartley,” greeted Joe. He was sitting at the table, sipping on a cup of coffee. He was sitting by the fireplace like The Godfather. All he was missing was an asshole looking cat and a fucked attitude.

“Evening, sir,” I replied. I decided to drop the snark last-second. If there was anyone here I needed to impress, it was Joe. Plus he had a gun, and my gloves were in storage.

I swore inwardly; I had assumed it would only be us and Joe tonight, but there’s two new factors I hadn’t considered. The mysterious blond most-likely-model and Iris…did they know Barry was The Flash? I didn’t feel like dancing around my words all evening. If they did know, did they know that _I_ knew? This was something I wish we could have prepared for a bit.

“Dinner’s almost ready. Barry, would you mind setting the table?” Joe asked. He didn’t dare look away from me, I don’t think he blinked; his heart rate was unnervingly steady. He’d gone into protective dad mode and it was surprisingly intimidating.

“Y-Yeah, sure, Joe,” he replied. Barry swallowed and ducked into the kitchen. As soon as he was out of Joe’s line-of-sight, I caught him giving me _that_ look that said ‘say something numb nuts’ and I decided to roll with it.

“Do you need a hand?” I offered.

“Barry’s a quick guy, it’ll be fine,” Joe smiled. He tapped the sides of his mug and I swallowed. “Come sit down.” He smiled semi-sweetly and patted the seat on the couch right next to him. I sighed to myself and moved across the room to take it. Iris and the blond sat on the couch opposite us.

“Oh, where are my manners? Iris, Eddie, this is Hartley Rathaway. Hartley, this is my daughter, Iris, and my partner, Eddie Thawne,” Joe introduced. I was surprised. Partner?

“So you two are…?”

“Calm down, son,” Joe teased. “He’s a police officer. He and Iris are together.”

Okay, that was an _epic_ fuckup. I heard Barry snickering in the kitchen and I was ready to go home. “Sorry, my mistake,” I apologized. Joe made that ‘mmmm’ noise that dads make.

“So, Hartley,” Iris began. “Any relation to Rathaway Industries?”

“My grandfather started it, actually. My father is the current CEO,” I explained. Barry returned briefly and handed me a glass of water which I thanked him for. He hovered awkwardly and I felt Joe shoot him a look; give us some space, I think was the message he was trying to send. Funny how Barry was confined to the kitchen in his own home, but this was my time for the floor. Joe wanted to pick my brain before food became a distraction.

“So you’ll be taking over one day, I assume?” Iris prodded. She was an inquisitive one, wasn’t she? I half wondered if she was a lawyer, or maybe a journalist, or a detective like her father.

I decided to answer honestly and cleared my throat. “No. Unfortunately, my parents and I no longer speak.”

Eddie decided to chime in. “Is it because of the gay thing?”

Iris slapped his shoulder hard as hell and Mr. Big Bad Police Officer backed off like a scared kitten. I answered anyway. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “So, how did you and Barry meet?”

Damn it all. That was a tricky question to answer; after all, did they even know Barry was The Flash?

Fortunately, Barry chimed in from the kitchen. “It was…a bit of a rocky start,” he chuckled, leaning over the couch behind Joe and I. “He actually…sort of wanted to kill Wells. Gave it his best shot, too, but I sort of…thwarted him. Then we locked him up, he got away, got locked up again, and then it just sort of…happened?” Barry explained.

Odd how that explanation was perfectly accurate. At least I knew about their information.

“So you guys know about…” I trailed off, and Eddie and Iris nodded together. “Well in that case, we started with me trying to kill him.”

“Almost did it, too.”

“You two are being very casual about this,” Eddie brought up, and Barry and I shrugged in unison. “The whole attempted murder thing doesn’t really bother you?”

“Nope.”

“Not really.”

“Wow,” Iris chuckled and Eddie soon matched her. Joe didn’t seem to appreciate the humor, but I decided to make friends with the easier targets first.

They added a few more questions into the mix. I talked about my living arrangements at Star Labs, how things were before the blast. They were surprised to learn that I was also a meta-human despite my rudimentary powers, and I told them about my hearing aids. Eddie was very intently listening to me, interesting in this strange man Barry had brought home, but Iris seemed miles away. Occasionally we exchanged glances, but mostly I caught her gazing off towards the kitchen where Barry was presumably cooking.

Were they more than siblings? Oh, foster siblings, I made a point to include that even in my own thoughts; it’d get weird otherwise. Not that it would be a particularly normal situation to begin with, but I could at least deal with this.

It wouldn’t be hard to see how Barry could be attracted to someone like Iris. She was beautiful, clever…female, which was (for lack of a better term) Barry’s default setting. I hoped I was wrong, but decided not to think about it at all for now. It wasn’t the time nor place, and I would bring it up to Barry later if I felt it was necessary.

“Dinner’s ready,” Barry chimed in, and the four of us stood at once. We all moved over slowly towards the dinner table and took our seats. Eddie pulled out a chair for Iris and Joe took his seat at the head of the table. Barry looked like he was about to pull my chair out.

“Don’t even think about it,” I teased and Barry smiled, relaxing a little. He wasn’t particularly happy to be joining the conversation, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

Barry served the meal; it was some sort of pasta that smelled amazing. I wasn’t surprised that Barry could do better with an actual kitchen rather than the one at Star Labs, and I smiled at him.

“This looks amazing,” I complimented. Barry smiled and leaned over to press a kiss on my cheek and my face turned pink. The table went silent and he realized what he had done.

“That’s gonna take some getting used to,” Iris joked, and Eddie chuckled awkwardly. “Barry’s never dated before, really, but when he finally did…”

“We assumed he would be with a woman,” Joe concluded. He was looking straight at me; it wasn’t accusing, not like he blamed me, but the look was certainly pointed.

“ _Dad_ ,” Iris urged in almost a whisper.

Joe sighed. “Sorry, that was rude. Come on, let’s eat.”

We ate in complete silence. Nobody was unaware of the awkwardness that hung over the table after that; what had Joe meant by that? Sure, Barry bringing a boy home might not have been predictable, but did Joe have to say it so sternly?

Barry’s leg was resting against mine, bouncing on his toes a little. I took a bit of comfort in the touch, trying to focus on anything but what he had just said. I knew how this was for Joe; I don’t think he really had a problem with me being a boy aside from the shock factor. He took issue with who I was; not with Hartley, but with who he saw attacking Rathaway Industries.

“So are you the one that’s been seen with The Flash recently, then, Hartley?” Iris asked, finally breaking the silence. I nodded, still chewing a bit of pasta, and then swallowed it down. “So Barry’s got his cool codename. What’s yours?”

“The Pied Piper,” Barry answered on my behalf. He looked over at me for a second, smiling, and Iris did the same.

“Pied Piper,” she echoed with a small smile. “Cisco’s idea?”

“Mine, actually. I decided I owed myself the cliché when the opportunity presented itself,” I joked. “I’ve grown pretty fond of it.”

“I like it,” she said. “It’ll be good for the blog. People have been asking about the mysterious accomplice.”

Her name returned to me all of a sudden. Iris West, of course. “You write the blog about The Flash,” I concluded.

“Crazy coincidence, I know,” she rolled her eyes with a grin. “But it’s gotten quite a following, so I still try to keep up with it.”

“I know. I follow it,” I smiled. She seemed surprised, and she went on a bit about how she wished she could keep up with it more and how it’s what got her hired on at Picture News. I congratulated myself silently on nailing the journalist guess, and then her journalist _really_ started showing.

“So Barry,” she started and he flinched visibly. He thought he’d escaped the conversation a bit, only to be dragged back in by the ankles. “I’m not really sure how else to put this, so I’ll just go ahead and say it. I thought you were, like…straight?”

Ahh. I was wondering when that was going to come up.

“So did I, I guess,” Barry shrugged.

“So then, what are you?” she asked. “I hope this isn’t insensitive, I’m not really well-versed on all of this.”

“It’s fine,” Barry chuckled. “And, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”

“But you still like women, right?” Eddie asked.

Barry nodded. “Yeah, sure, but I don’t see how it really matters.”

“It does matter, Barry,” Joe said, slightly amused. Barry seemed to have missed the joking tone and immediately went for the throat.

“Look, Joe, if you’ve got a problem with this then say it,” Barry snapped. Joe didn’t flinch, barely blinked or breathed, and stared straight at Barry.

“I’m only going to say this once,” he said. I flinched, sweat gathering on my forehead. I’d heard those words before, and they weren’t followed by nice things. I thought Joe was a better guy than this. “At night, you put on a head-to-toe red leather suit with a lightning bolt on it, run at superhuman speeds, and beat up criminals with your bare hands. Nothing, I repeat _nothing_ can weird me out at this point.”

Eddie almost shit his pants laughing.

The tension in Barry’s shoulders hadn’t released, and poking him with a fork didn’t seem to ease it at all (I tried anyway). “Then why are you…?”

“I don’t care that he’s a man, I care that he’s a criminal,” Joe shrugged as if it was obvious. And okay, fair point, but I didn’t have an official record. I was only a criminal off the books. There’s a difference.

There really wasn’t a difference.

“He’s doing better,” Barry defended. “And he’s been helping me protect Central City, just like Iris said.”

“I can vouch for that,” Iris agreed. “From what I’ve heard, the Pied Piper has done nothing but good. No casualties, minimal property damage.”

Joe was watching me while she talked. I decided to step in; hopefully their word would be enough, but it probably couldn’t hurt to throw my own information in as well. “When I asked to help Barry, I agreed to play by his rules. That means playing the hero. Protecting people.”

“And why the change of heart? When you and Barry fought, you were throwing cars off a bridge,” Joe pushed. Eddie half-interrupted with a quiet “ _Wait he can do that?_ ”, but Iris shushed him.

“I wanted to get close to Barry,” I admitted without hesitation. I was a little embarrassed but pressed on anyway. “I hadn’t thought so much into it at the time; mostly it was to stay at Star Labs, and sure that was part of it. But I’d already become attached to Barry more than I wanted to, and it was too later. After that, we sort of just…”

Barry squeezed my hand and I looked over at him. He was smiling at me, doing that thing where he squints his eyes a bit and I couldn’t help but smile back. We must have looked like a doe-eyed couple of kids, but the moment passed relatively quickly.

“You two are good together,” Eddie decided, and Joe shot him a weird look. “I mean, it’s different, and not what I expected at all. But it’s…yeah.” He nodded, giving himself the seal of approval, and I couldn’t believe this guy. He was a puppy that walked on his hind legs.

“Yeah,” was all that Iris had to add. She looked at me for a second, then at Barry. I looked over at him, and he and Iris were watching each other. I felt like I was intruding on a moment between the two, and Joe noticed it as well. He and I exchanged a look but I didn’t bother trying to decipher whatever he was trying to say with his glance.

“I think we’re going to head out,” Eddie decided and Iris nodded. “Thank you both, dinner was delicious. Hartley, it was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” I smiled and Eddie shook my hand across the table. Iris extended hers as well which I shook, reaching down to kiss the back of her hand (a weird habit I’d picked up a while ago when dealing with women; they seemed to love it, though I’m pretty sure Eddie was about to go all macho-man until he remembered I was sort-of dating Barry).

Iris and Barry exchanged another silent glance, and I felt jealousy pang through my stomach. I immediately took Barry’s hand, not bothering how possessive it looked. She looked at me and smiled a little, then headed out the door with her own boyfriend.

“What was that about?” I mumbled softly, more to myself than to him. He took notice anyway, raising an eyebrow at me.

“What do you mean?” he asked. He was being honest, too; he had no idea how obviously he looked at her. I didn’t push the issue, and just shrugged. Barry bought it and moved on. “Let’s go upstairs. I don’t feel like running back to the lab tonight.”

I nodded and followed him upstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew! This chapter gave me a lot of trouble for some reason, no idea why. Hope you guys liked this one! I wasn't sure how it turned out.
> 
> So I wanted to talk to you guys about something that was brought up by a friend of mine. He was wondering how NSFW this was going to get, and honestly I hadn't even thought about it. I'm not opposed to it, god knows there isn't enough Bartley smut in the world, but I'd like to make sure that everyone here would be cool with that. Leave a comment with your opinion on the matter, and I'll see what I can do :) See you Friday!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed last Friday and I almost forgot to post this today. More notes at the end.

That was _exhausting_. Running around the city had nothing on what I had just experienced.

Hartley trailed behind me, eyes locked on the steps as we climbed them slowly. He was still holding onto my hand, which was odd; Hartley was a lot of things, but touchy-feely usually wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t the kind of guy to want contact at all times, so it was unusual how he was acting.

Plus he wasn’t sassing me, which couldn’t be good.

I couldn’t put all of my stress on Joe; I hadn’t counted on seeing Iris. It was uncomfortable seeing her now that I was with Hartley. It wasn’t like with Lisa, where she was just some girl I was dating. Sure, I really did like her, but it wasn’t anything serious. Circumstances with Hartley were much different.

It’s not like my feelings for Iris had disappeared. You don’t spend years loving someone and then fall out of it overnight. Do you? I guess I wasn’t really an expert on the topic of love. What I did know was that I loved Iris, and I was beginning to feel something very similar to that with Hartley.

I didn’t know if I loved him or not. Despite what he appeared to be, he had a lot of qualities you’d look for in someone; he was smart, he was funny (in his own way), and I think he cared more about people than he let on.

But Iris had those things, too, and we had history.

I know it wasn’t fair to compare the two; after all, they were about as different as they could be except in a couple of aspects. But when they’re the only two significant interests I’ve really ever had, it was hard not to.

Was it fair to be dating Hartley? I had been in love with Iris for so long, I still was. But I really liked Hartley, too. There were things that, as much as she supported me, could never really understand the way he did. He was out there helping me, risking his life as the Piper. I could never thank him enough for that.

Despite the fact that he essentially blackmailed me into allowing it, but we’d moved past that.

“So this is your room?” Hartley asked as I opened the door. It wasn’t anything special; it was a little smaller than his room at Star Labs, but with a full bed and a TV. That made it a little cramped, but it was plenty functional. I immediately felt tired just laying my eyes on my bed and sat down at the foot of it.

Hartley took a seat behind me, hands rested on my shoulders. I leaned into him, sighing, and he just chuckled a little. “Stressed?” he laughed.

“Unbelievably,” I admitted. “I wasn’t counting on…never mind.” Hartley thought about something for a second but then zoned back in on the moment. He used his thumbs to rub deep, firm circles just above my shoulder blades and I moaned audibly and he chuckled again.

He did that for a few moments and I wasn’t about to stop him; it felt really, really good. After a couple of minutes, he leaned against my back, cheek pressed against the back of my shoulder.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. He nodded against me.

“Just tired. It’s been a long day,” he said. Hartley stopped massaging my shoulders and I was a little sad at the loss, but he lied back in bed. I smiled and crawled up next to him, resting my head on one of the pillows at the top. He claimed the other, rolling onto his side to look at me. We lay there for a second in silence, then we both started giggling a little.

“How domestic of us,” I teased. “Next we’ll be discussing tomorrow’s brunch with the Simmons down the street.”

“Just let me have an excuse to look at you once in a while,” he half-laughed, and I stopped laughing. “At least without your mask on. Usually we’re either watching a movie, or talking with Caitlin and Cisco. I never get to just look at you.”

I didn’t know what to say. Hartley was dead serious, just watching me with…I didn’t know what to call his expression. It wasn’t a blank stare, and it wasn’t like admiring me, he was just soaking in every feature on my face. It wasn’t long before I noticed I was doing the same; tracing the edges of his features, his jawline, his nose. I drew the edges of his glasses in my mind, and then just watched him overall for a few seconds. His formerly absorbed expression slowly cracked into a soft smile I hadn’t seen on him for a while.

“I’m really glad we can be like this,” I said quietly. He didn’t reply, just kept smiling. It was super cheesy and ridiculous, and neither of us wanted to voice it so that it ruined the moment.

Hartley scooted towards me on the bed, pressing his lips to mine. They were soft but the kiss was firm, and he breathed in deeply as I began pressing back against him. He propped himself up on his elbow and was above me.

Somehow or another he ended up straddling me, elbows planted on either side of my head and my hands were on his hips. It was surprisingly sexual but nothing was happening in those regards (thank God, Joe was right downstairs). We moved together, taking breaths at the same time as if it were choreographed.

He pulled back for a moment, gasping and looking down at me. I could barely see his face, shadowed by his head blocking the light, but I could barely make out his smile. A sweet, genuine smile that he didn’t let slip often.

“What’s gotten into you tonight?” I asked, smiling a little. He had been acting different since dinner, more touchy and affectionate than I’d ever seen him. While not unwelcome, it was cause for concern.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. He lay down next to me, head tucked into the crook of my neck and arm stretched out over my stomach. I wedged an arm under him, wrapped around to the other side. I didn’t press him after that; why spoil a good thing with all kinds of questions?

Sometime or another we fell asleep curled up next to each other. I couldn’t speak for Hartley, but I slept solidly, and when we awoke we were somehow closer than when we fell asleep.

“You awake?” I asked and Hartley just mumbled something into my neck. “Good. We already overslept.”

He mumbled again, which I translated to be something along the lines of “ _Ten more minutes_ ” which I ignored. I reached to the end table next to my desk and checked my phone. Fifteen missed calls from Cisco? What the hell? I dialed him back immediately, and he answered before the first ring ended.

“What’s up?” I asked, hearing to Cisco’s panicked breathing on the other end of the line.

“ _Someone broke into Star Labs last night,_ ” he said, and my heart leaped out of my chest. Hartley must have overheard, because he was fuming next to me. “ _Get here as fast as you can._ ”

I didn’t respond, just grabbing Hartley and running out the door.

We arrived in a few seconds. Caitlin was outside, ready to call the police and Cisco was trying to talk her down. He kept yelling ‘the last thing we need is for the cops to find an underground meta-human prison’, which was fairly true. Wells was sitting silently in his seat, waiting for us. He urged me to be careful and sent the both of us inside together.

I ran Hartley straight to his gloves which he put on over his normal clothes. It looked odd, but now wasn’t the time to bother with suits and stuff.

Actually I wore a mask, so I did take a moment to put mine on. Hartley and I pressed onward, looking for the intruder.

We crept through the halls together. I would have just scanned the whole building, but I wasn’t about to leave Hartley by himself even for a second. Sure, he could take care of himself, but that didn’t mean I was willing to throw him in the water and hope he could swim.

“I hear movement ahead,” Hartley told me and I nodded.

I ran in and flipped on the lights, then ran back to Hartley’s side. Someone was sitting on the couch, doing anything but nefarious activities. He was eating a sandwich, and looking at us. Even more strangely, I recognized him.

“Roy?” Hartley and I asked together. I shot him a glance; how did he know Roy? Then I remembered his brief time in Starling City, so it makes sense that he would have overheard Roy’s name in the Arrow Cave.

“Hey, uh, guys,” Roy muttered. His eyes flickered over to Hartley and he grew defensive for a second. “Ba-Flash, what’s he doing?”

I groaned. This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, and the mask wasn’t really necessary anymore. I pulled it off and Hartley powered his gloves down.

“It’s fine, Hartley is with us now,” I simplified. Hartley seemed amused at it and folded his arms. “What are you doing here?”

Roy sighed, rubbing his head. He set down his sandwich, standing. “That’s…kind of a long story.”

Roy told his story. After faking his death to clear Oliver’s name, he had to flee Starling City and go on the run. He had ducked out in an auto garage, but Oliver’s sister (whom he had apparently been involved with?) managed to track him down and he had to leave again.

“And I don’t really have anywhere to stay, so I was kind of hoping I could camp out here for a while?” Roy asked. He looked sheepish, like he was embarrassed to ask.

“You’re welcome here, Mister Harper,” Wells smiled as he rolled in behind us. I hadn’t noticed him entering, but he must have been listening in through the suit.

“T-Thank you, Doctor Wells,” Roy thanked him. I caught Hartley side-eyeing Roy to my side. It was hard to blame him; after all, Roy was one of the ones who caught him in Starling City, the reason he was ever put back in captivity. Things may have worked out in the long run, but it probably still stung a bit.

I offered to help Roy retrieve his things, but he only had what he was carrying in a bag. Whatever possessions he had he’d left in Starling City except for his bow (in case of emergencies). He didn’t even have his suit anymore, apparently having left it for Thea.

“Hartley and I are going to go out later to take care of some stuff in the city,” I offered, and Roy poked his head up. “You’re welcome to join us if you want to.”

“Is that such a good idea?” Hartley asked and I was surprised to hear him object; he’d offered to help me, why was an extra pair of hands such a big deal. “He said himself he doesn’t have his suit anymore, and if he’s faked his death, we don’t need him on the news.”

Roy scratched the back of his head. “Hate to say it, but Hartley’s right. I can’t have the publicity.”

Hartley smiled a little smugly to my right. What was his deal? Surely he should know it’s not hard to put some crappy mask together for the evening; Roy was obviously pretty down, I was trying to cheer him up dammit!

“We can put a mask together for you. And it’ll get your mind off of things,” I urged, and I watched Roy; he was tempted. He may have missed Starling, but it seemed like he missed helping people a bit, too.

Roy sighed, acting like he was being pressured into this completely against his will. “Alright, sure.”

Hartley swore a little under his breath and walked away. Roy shot me a glance, wondering what Hartley’s problem was. I shrugged and went to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo I kind of hate this chapter.
> 
> I'm not sure if any of you read the comments, so I'll reiterate it here; I was planning to keep with my twice a week schedule, but with work picking up for me, I don't think that's a realistic goal for me anymore. I rushed to throw this chapter together to get it up today, and I'm not particularly happy about it, but it at least got the plot moving in the direction I wanted so there's that. From now on, I think I'm going to dial back to one chapter per week, only on Tuesdays. I was wanting to drag this out longer of my frequent updates, but unfortunately my personal life has interfered with that.
> 
> Check the comments below; one of my readers had questions regarding the timeline, how Iris knew about Barry and all of that. All questions answered below (because I don't feel like typing it all out here yaaay)
> 
> Anyway, hope you liked this chapter more than I did. Remember to leave Kudos and Comments, I love and read them all. Ciao!


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